The series revolves around Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress living in the rural town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, two years after the invention of a synthetic blood that has allowed vampires to "come out of the coffin" and allow their presence to be known to mankind. Now they are struggling for equal rights and assimilation, while anti-vampire organizations begin to gain power. Sookie's world is turned upside down when she falls in love with 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and for the first time must navigate the trials, tribulations and terrors of intimacy and relationships.[1][2]

The show was broadcast on the premium cable network HBO, in the United States, and was produced by HBO in association with Ball's production company, Your Face Goes Here Entertainment,[1] the series premiered on September 7, 2008 and concluded on August 24, 2014, comprising seven seasons and 80 episodes.[3][4] The first five seasons received highly positive reviews, and both nominations and wins for several awards, including a Golden Globe and an Emmy.

The fictional universe depicted in the series is premised on the notion that vampires exist, unbeknownst to the majority of humans until two years before the series premiere, when the creation of synthetic blood ("Tru Blood") by Japanese scientists, which eliminated vampires' need for human blood to survive, allowed vampires to "come out of the coffin" and reveal their existence to the world.E-1 This so-called "Great Revelation" has split vampires into two camps: those who wish to integrate into human society (i.e., "mainstream") by campaigning for citizenship and equal rights,E-1 and those who think human-vampire co-existence is impossible, because it conflicts with the inherently violent nature of vampires. Throughout the series, other supernatural creatures are introduced, among them shapeshifters, werewolves, faeries, witches, and a maenad.

The show explores several contemporary issues such as the struggle for equal rights, discrimination and violence against minorities and homosexuals, the problems of drug addiction, the power of faith and religion, the control/influence of the media, the quest for identity, and the importance of family.

Series creator Alan Ball had previously worked with the cable channel HBO on Six Feet Under, which ran for five seasons; in October 2005, after Six Feet Under wrapped, Ball signed a two-year agreement with HBO to develop and produce original programming for the network. True Blood became the first project under the deal, after Ball became acquainted with Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mystery books.[5] One day, while early for a dental appointment, Ball was browsing through a Barnes & Noble bookshop and came across Dead Until Dark (2001), the first installment in Harris' series. He read the entries that followed and became interested in "bringing [Harris'] vision to television".[5][6] However, Harris already had two other adaptation options for the books, she said she chose to work with him, though, because "[Ball] really 'got' me. That's how he convinced me to go with him. I just felt that he understood what I was doing with the books."

The project's hour-long pilot was ordered concurrently with the finalization of the aforementioned development deal, and was written, directed, and produced by Ball.[1][5] Cast members Paquin, Kwanten and Trammell were announced in February 2007 and Moyer later on in April,[7][8] the pilot was shot in the early summer of 2007 and was officially ordered to series in August, at which point Ball had already written several more episodes.[1] Production on the series began later that fall,[9] with Brook Kerr, who portrayed Tara Thornton in the original pilot, replaced by Rutina Wesley.[10] Two more episodes of the series had been filmed before the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike shut down production of the 12-episode first season until 2008.[11] That September, after only the first two episodes of the series had aired, HBO placed an order for a second season of 12 episodes, with production scheduled to commence in January 2009 for a summer premiere.[12]

The makers of the title sequence wanted to explore themes of redemption and forgiveness.

Conceptually, the sequence was constructed around the idea of "the whore in the house of prayer"[14] by intermingling contradictory images of sex, violence, and religion and displaying them from the point of view of "a supernatural, predatory creature observing human beings from the shadows ..."[13] Ideas of redemption and forgiveness are also explored, and thus the sequence progresses from morning to night and culminates in a baptism.[14]

The title sequence was created by the independent film company Digital Kitchen, the sequence also features images and themes of death and rebirth; the circle of life. A Venus fly-trap can be seen engulfing a frog, while a rotting fox's head is sped up to reveal maggots feeding off the corpse. Rebirth is also recognized through an image of a woman being "washed clean" from her sins in a lake, as well as a Reverend blessing and possibly performing an exorcism on a member of his congregation.[15]

Some of the footage used in the sequence was filmed on location. Digital Kitchen then took a four-day trip to Louisiana to film as well as shot at a Chicago church, and on a stage and in a bar in Seattle.[14]

In editing the opening, individual frames were splattered with drops of blood,[14] the sequence's transitions were constructed differently, though; they were made with a Polaroid transfer technique. The last frame of one shot and the first frame of another were taken as a single Polaroid photo, which was then divided between emulsion and backing, the emulsion was then filmed being further separated by chemicals, and those shots of this separation were placed back into the final edit.[13]

Eight different typefaces, inspired by Southern road signs, were also created manually for cast and crew credits, as well as the show's title card.[14]

In a 2010 issue of TV Guide, the show's opening title sequence ranked #5 on a list of TV's top 10 credits sequences, as selected by readers.[16]

Gary Calamar, who supervises the series' music, said his goal for the show's soundtrack is to create something "swampy, bluesy and spooky" and to feature local Louisiana musicians.[17]True Blood soundtrack albums have twice earned Grammy Award nominations.

Composer Nathan Barr writes the original score for the series, which features the cello, guitar, prepared piano, and glass harmonica among other instruments, all of which he performs himself,[18] the main theme song is "Bad Things" by country music artist Jace Everett, from his 2005 self-titled debut.[19]

Elektra/Atlantic Records released a True Blood soundtrack on May 19, 2009, the same day as the release of the DVD and Blu-ray of the first season.[20] Nathan Barr's original score for True Blood was released on CD on the Varèse Sarabande label on September 8, 2009,[21] the second True Blood soundtrack was released on May 25, 2010, to coincide with the third season's premiere in June. The third volume was released on September 6, 2011, a few days before the season four finale.[22]

The show's individual episode titles are named after songs featured in the episodes, usually heard during the closing credits, the title usually indicates something about the events that will unfold throughout the given episode. For example, episode ten of season four is titled "Burning Down the House", and the end credits feature a cover version of the classic Talking Heads song performed by The Used.

The premiere of True Blood was prefaced with a viral marketing/alternate reality game (ARG) campaign, based at BloodCopy.com.[24] This included setting up multiple websites,[25][26][27] encoding web address into unmarked envelopes mailed to high-profile blog writers and others, and even performances by a "vampire" who attempted to reach out to others of their kind, to discuss the recent creation of "TrueBlood", a fictional beverage featured in the show. A MySpace account with the username "Blood"[28] had, as of June 19, uploaded two videos;[29] one entitled "Vampire Taste Test – True Blood vs Human",[30] and one called "BloodCopy Exclusive INTERVIEW WITH SAMSON THE VAMPIRE".

A prequelcomic was handed out to attendees of the 2008 Comic-Con, the comic centers around an old vampire named Lamar, who tells the reader about how TruBlood surfaced and was discussed between many vampires before going public. At one point, Lamar wonders if TruBlood is making the world safe for vampires or from them. Several commercials featured on HBO and Facebook[31] aired prior to the series premiere, placing vampires in ads similar to those of beer and wine, some beverage vending machines across the US were also fitted with cards indicating they were "sold out" of TruBlood.

Promotional poster for second season

HBO produced and broadcast two documentaries to promote True Blood, entitled "True Bloodlines",[32] the first, Vampire Legends, explored the earliest portrayals of vampires in legend, literature, and cinema. The second, A New Type, discusses vampire culture from Nosferatu to today's sensual, sexual creatures. To that end, the show also covered the modern vampire subculture and real-life vampire clubs.[33] Actors and writers from True Blood appeared in the documentaries, the shows first aired on September 6, 2008, on HBO.

Thousands of DVDs of the first episode were handed out to attendees of Midnight Madness, a special film festival. Blockbuster Video provided free rental of the first episode of True Blood several days before it was broadcast on HBO. The video had a faint promotional watermark throughout the episode.

On April 16, 2009, HBO released the first teaser poster for Season 2, the image uses a perspective technique that shows observers one of two images.[34] A minute-long promotional video advertising season two, which featured Bob Dylan's "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'", was released via Entertainment Tonight in early May.[35]

On September 19, 2009, HBO.com began selling Tru:Blood,[36] a beverage branded to resemble the fictional synthetic blood that appears in the show. The beverage is a carbonated blood orange-flavored drink, developed and manufactured by Omni Consumer Products, a company that specializes in defictionalizing brands from television and movies, and FMCG Manufacturing Company, a specialist manufacturer of licensed entertainment products.

There is also a website for The Fellowship of the Sun,[37] antagonists from the book series, featuring videos about hot-button issues such as becoming a vampire.

FX, available in the UK, launched an extensive promotional website for the series.[38]

On September 18, 2009, HBO launched a True Blood jewelry line in collaboration with New York-based designer Udi Behr. Inspired by the series, the jewelry has a Gothic look and features sterling silver, polished steel, and rubies.[40]

On June 1, 2010, HBO held a special event at a number of movie theaters around the U.S.,[41] complete with red carpet, searchlights and swag bags. Contest winners were invited to watch a special live, the Season 2 finale, a preview of Season 3, and a live interview on the set of True Blood with the cast and Alan Ball.

HBO began selling True Blood figural busts featuring Bill, Sookie, and Eric in summer 2010. Busts of other characters will also be available later.

HBO and IDW Publishing announced at the 2010 WonderCon that they would be publishing a comic book based on the series.[42]Alan Ball developed and wrote the comic. The first booklet, with a print run of 53,000, was released in July 2010[43] and soon sold out, the second issue went on sale August 18, 2010, with a second printing of the first issue going on sale August 25.[44]

Six comics were issued in the series, and they were compiled as the graphic novel All Together Now on February 15, 2011, this was the first in a series of four graphic novels released by HBO under the True Blood franchise and sold in major bookstores.[45] Ensuing titles include Tainted Love, The French Quarter, and Ongoing.

True Blood employs a broad ensemble cast composed of regular, central characters and a rotating group of impermanent supporting characters. Though the series is based in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, a noticeable number of the actors comprising the cast are originally from outside the United States; in an interview, Ball explained that he didn't intentionally seek out "non-American" actors, but was willing to go anywhere he needed to in order "to find the actor who makes the character breathe". Ball went on to explain that, in casting, there was more of a focus on who would portray the character in a compelling way rather than who would physically resemble the characters from the book. Noting that there's a definite difference between the characters and storylines portrayed in True Blood and the ones depicted in The Southern Vampire Mysteries, he described Harris as being very understanding in terms of how her work was being reinterpreted.[46]

The major characters of the first season of True Blood are introduced among various intertwining plot lines that surround the Bon Temps bar "Merlotte's". The show's main protagonist, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), is a telepath and waitress at Merlotte's;E-1 in the opening episode she saves Merlotte's first vampire customer, Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), when a local couple attempts to drain him of his blood (vampire blood is known on the show as a human narcotic: "V" or "V Juice").E-1 Through the relationship that develops between Sookie and Bill, the viewer progressively learns more about vampire culture and the limitations of vampire physiology (e.g. susceptibility to silver and the sun).

The final major plotline of the first season revolves around the elements of vampire society that Sookie and Bill's relationship introduce. While trying to prove her brother's innocence in relation to Maudette and Dawn's murders, Bill takes Sookie to the vampire bar "Fangtasia" to investigate. There, Sookie is introduced to Fangtasia's owner and the vampire sheriff of "Area 5" in Louisiana: Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård).E-4 Eric is immediately interested in Sookie and her strange abilities, but his progeny and assistant Pam (Kristin Bauer) is less impressed.E-4 Eric employs Sookie to find a thief in his bar, but the perpetrator (a vampire named Longshadow) attempts to kill Sookie when she reveals his identity. Bill stakes and kills the thief to save her, but has committed a serious crime in killing another vampire.E-8 When Bill is tried for his crime, his punishment is to transform seventeen-year-old Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll) into a vampire to replace the one he destroyed.E-10

A secondary plotline introduced in the first season (which later becomes a main plotline in Season 2) is that although many humans are attracted to vampires (referred to as "fang bangers") and flock to establishments like Fangtasia, not all people are accepting of the idea that vampires should be given rights equal to those afforded the mortals of the True Blood universe. During the first season, one of the ways in which anti-vampire sentiment is expressed is through regular televised appearances by the "Fellowship of the Sun",E-2 a Dallas-based church that in Season 2 becomes headed by the Reverend Steve Newlin (Michael McMillian)E-3 after his father and family are killed in a strange "accident".E-2

During the second season of True Blood, the influence of Maryann Forrester and the conflict between vampires and humans is expanded. Most of the cast from the first season returns and several new main characters are introduced, the same style of interconnected story telling used in the first season is repeated, with the foremost plot focusing on Maryann Forrester being revealed as a maenadE-19 with the power to influence humans.E-15 She begins by manipulating Tara and Eggs to achieve her goal of summoning her god to earth,E-20 and eventually takes control of almost the entire population of Bon Temps.E-22

While Maryann begins establishing her hold on Bon Temps, Sookie is recruited by EricE-15 to investigate the disappearance of his two-thousand-year-old maker and the Sheriff of Area 9 in Texas: Godric (Allan Hyde).E-17 While Sookie is absent from Bon Temps, Sam hires Daphne Landry (Ashley Jones) to join Merlotte's staff.E-13 Daphne (who is revealed to also be a shapeshifterE-17) begins a romance with Sam,E-16 but is later exposed as working for Maryann.E-18 Jason also leaves Bon Temps for Dallas to join the Fellowship of the Sun,E-14 which Reverend Newlin has steered in a new militant direction despite the protestations of his wife Sarah (Anna Camp).E-13 Godric is discovered in the custody of the Fellowship,E-17 and one of Godric's lieutenants, Isabel Beaumont (Valerie Cruz),E-17 sends her human boyfriend Hugo (Christopher Gartin)E-18 to assist Sookie in infiltrating the church. Though Eric's primary interest in Dallas is finding Godric, he also attempts to place himself between Sookie and Bill. To accomplish this, he enlists the aid of Bill's maker Lorena (Mariana Klaveno);E-17, who thus becomes a more prominent contribution to the cast after a brief introduction in the first season.E-5 In the penultimate episode of the second season, once the conflict in Texas is concluded, the vampire queen of Louisiana Sophie-Anne Leclerq (Evan Rachel Wood) is introduced.E-23 Both Bill and Eric visit her in an attempt to find out how to defeat Maryann.E-23 Bill uses the information provided by Sophie-Anne to devise a plan involving Sam and Sookie, and the three manage to kill Maryann in the season two finale. Subsequently, Bill takes Sookie out to an exclusive French restaurant to propose to her. However, before she can give her answer, Bill is kidnapped.

Season three picks up straight after the events of season two with Sookie on the hunt to track down Bill and his kidnappers, she turns to Eric for help, who is not interested (seeing this turn of events as a chance to get Sookie for himself), but he ends up sending werewolf Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello) for assistance after it is revealed that Bill was taken by V-addicted werewolves in the employ of the 3000-year-old vampire king of Mississippi, Russell Edgington (Denis O'Hare). Meanwhile, back in Bon Temps, Lafayette embarks on a relationship with his mother's care nurse and brujoJesús Velasquez (Kevin Alejandro) and learns about his own special powers as a medium, while Sam hires a new waitress at Merlotte's, Wiccan Holly Cleary (Lauren Bowles).

For season six, it was announced that Robert Kazinsky would join the principal cast as Ben, a faerie and a potential love interest for Sookie, he will also help Sookie and Jason discover the truth about their parents' murders.[53]Robert Patrick, who guest starred in season five as Jackson Herveaux, was promoted to series regular for season six.[54]Rutger Hauer, who starred in popular films such as Blade Runner and Batman Begins, was announced as a series regular playing "Macklyn", a character with "strong ties to Sookie and Jason".[55]

The main mystery of the first season concerns the murders of women connected to Sookie's brother, Jason. Maudette Pickens and Dawn Green are both strangled shortly after having been alone with him. Though Detective Bellefleur has little doubt that Jason is the killer, the town sheriff does not suspect him. Sookie's grandmother is murdered shortly afterward, after the murders, Jason becomes addicted to vampire blood and has a short relationship with another addict, Amy Burley, which ends when she is murdered as well. The season also focuses on Sookie's relationship with Bill and Sam's relationship with Sookie's friend Tara. Bill explains the rules of being a vampire to Sookie and, after killing a vampire to defend her, is forced to "turn" a young girl named Jessica into a vampire as punishment, the immature Jessica is left under Bill's care and starts to grow up both as a vampire and as a person. In the end it is revealed that Arlene Fowler's fiancé, Rene Lenier, has been killing women who associate with vampires. Further, he is actually a man named Drew Marshall who created a false identity, complete with a fake Cajun accent, the season ends with the discovery of a body in Detective Andy Bellefleur's car in Merlotte's parking lot.

The second season loosely follows the plot of the second novel of The Southern Vampire Mysteries, Living Dead in Dallas; in addition, the character of Sophie-Anne Leclerq, initially introduced in the sixth novel Definitely Dead, was introduced as a major supporting character. The main theme of the season involves the disappearance of Godric, the 2,000-year-old vampire Sheriff of Area 9. Eric enlists Sookie and Bill's aid in finding the ancient vampire in Dallas. Their paths cross Jason's as he seeks to discover meaning in his life with the Fellowship of the Sun, a church dedicated to anti-vampire activities. A second theme concerns a maenad named Maryann who visits Bon Temps after Tara attracts her attention at the end of the first season. Maryann is a figure from Sam's past and knows his true identity as a shapeshifter, her influence on the town and its residents results in mayhem that grows more destructive as the season progresses. At the end of the season, Bill proposes to Sookie, but is kidnapped by unknown assailants when Sookie retreats to the bathroom to consider his proposal.

Season three loosely follows the plot of the third novel of The Southern Vampire Mysteries, Club Dead, and introduces werewolves to the show's mythology, it also introduces the characters of Russell Edgington, the Vampire King of Mississippi, and his private investigator, Franklin Mott. In addition, some characters from the fourth novel Dead to the World are introduced: Crystal Norris as Jason's love interest, her family of werepanthers from Hotshot, and Sookie's "faerie godmother", Claudine. Sookie's heritage as part faerie is also revealed later in the season, a major plot element from the eighth and ninth novels From Dead to Worse and Dead and Gone. This season ends with Jason left to take care of Hotshot, Tara leaving Bon Temps, Bill fighting the queen, Sam shooting Tommy, and Hoyt and Jessica moving in together, the final cliffhanger involves Claudine taking Sookie away to the land of Faerie.

A coven of witches, led by Marnie, poses a threat to vampires when they discover the witches are working on necromancy. Sookie returns to Bon Temps after a year (even though for her she was away for only a few minutes in Faerie) to find Bill as the new King of Louisiana and that her brother and friends had given up hope of finding her, as the series progresses, a powerful necromancer from the 16th century, Antonia, possesses the body of Marnie in order to exact revenge on all vampires. Sookie starts a romance with Eric who has amnesia due to a spell cast by Antonia/Marnie, the witch Antonia eventually realizes the wrongdoing she's caused to innocent people and decides to stop. Yet Marnie, addicted to Antonia's power, binds her against her will to acquire her powers. Subplots include Lafayette's introduction to the world of magic and his abilities as a medium, Sam's family troubles, Alcide and Debbie's troubled relationship, and Jason, Hoyt and Jessica's love triangle, the finale is a series of cliffhangers, including a warning from the ghost of Rene that Terry will cause Arlene trouble, the escape of Russell Edgington, the reappearance of Steve Newlin as a vampire, and the shooting of Tara.

The season follows Bill and Eric being captured by the Vampire Authority after the disappearance of Nan Flanagan, the two are almost sentenced to death by the Guardian, Roman, before revealing that Russell Edgington is alive and free after being released by a mysterious vampire. With the help of Sookie the team discovers his hiding place and brings him in. Alcide deals with his troubled rise to pack-master, and Terry learns he is death-cursed after committing a terrible crime during the war in Iraq. Meanwhile, Sookie learns that her powers are limited and contemplates having a normal life, just as Tara learns to deal with her newly given life as Pam's progeny. Jason and Sookie discover their parents were murdered by a vampire and vow to find out who is responsible. Hoyt gets involved with a hate group, then decides to leave for Alaska, just as Andy heads towards life as family man, and Lafayette tries to deal with the powers given to him by Jesus. Russell and his new vampire-companion Steve Newlin, along with Salome and Eric's vampire sister Nora, redefine the values of the Authority and view humans as nothing more than food: just as Lilith of the Vampire bible wanted, the season ends with the Authority leadership being wiped out during the True Blood crisis, and Bill drinking all of the sacred vial of Lilith in front of Sookie and Eric. He soon meets the "true death", but shortly after, he "rises from the blood", as an even more powerful vampire reincarnation of Lilith ("Billith").

The sixth season of True Blood premiered on June 16, 2013, after Alan Ball's departure from the series at the end of season 5, Brian Buckner replaced Ball as the show's showrunner. Season six focuses on Billith's growing abilities. Sookie and Jason search for Warlow, the vampire responsible for their parents death. Louisiana governor leads a platform to eradicate the entire vampire race, leaving all fates in the balance.[57]

The first five seasons of True Blood received positive reviews, despite the fact that initial impressions were mixed. Linda Stasi of the New York Post wrote of the opening episodes:

"If HBO's new vampire show is any indication, there would still be countless deaths – especially among vampire hunters and the viewers who love them – because everyone would be dying of boredom. And so it is with HBO's new series from death-obsessed Alan Ball, creator of the legendary Six Feet Under, whose new show True Blood, won't so much make your blood run cold as it will leave you cold."[65]

"Sexy, witty and unabashedly peculiar, True Blood is a blood-drenched Southern Gothic romantic parable set in a world where vampires are out and about and campaigning for equal rights. Part mystery, part fantasy, part comedy, and all wildly imaginative exaggeration, [True] Blood proves that there's still vibrant life — or death — left in the 'star-crossed cute lovers' paradigm. You just have to know where to stake your romantic claim."[66]

Season 5 was the final season with Alan Ball as showrunner, after which he was replaced by Brian Buckner, the sixth season was met with generally mixed reviews in contrast to the critical acclaim of the previous five seasons. Many critics noticed the decreasing quality of the scripts, production values, and even the acting, with more of a focus on action and less on character development. Season 7 continued this trend, receiving fewer positive reviews, and the viewing rate also declined considerably compared to previous seasons, with only 3 million tuning in every week, down from the 5 million from the fourth and fifth seasons.

Metacritic, an aggregator of critical responses, found "generally favorable reviews" for the first five seasons, with ratings of 63, 74, 79, 74 and 74, respectively.[58][59][60][61][62] The sixth season rated 58 and the seventh 54, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[63][64]

True Blood was the subject of a Sesame Street sketch parody titled "True Mud" (2010), featuring puppet versions of Sookie, Bill, Lafayette, Sam, Tara, and Sheriff Dearborn. In the skit, Muppet Sookie struggles to fulfill Muppet Bill's pleas for a pint of "True Mud", as the other characters speculate whether or not he is a "grouch".[67]

Anna Paquin (Sookie), Stephen Moyer (Bill), and Alexander Skarsgård (Eric) appeared on the August 2010 cover of Rolling Stone covered in blood and completely naked, this cover drew criticism[68] due to the image's supposed promotion of sexuality and violence. The show's creator, Alan Ball, stated in the magazine, "To me, vampires are sex... I don't get a vampire story about abstinence. I'm 53. I don't care about high school students. I find them irritating and uninformed."[68]

The struggle for vampire equality in True Blood has been interpreted as an allegory for the LGBT rights movement.[69]Charlaine Harris, the author of the book series on which the show is based, stated that her initial characterization for the vampires were as "...a minority that was trying to get equal rights".[70][71] Several phrases in the series are borrowed and adapted from expressions used against and about LGBT people, such as "God Hates Fangs" (God Hates Fags) and "Coming out of the coffin" (coming out of the closet).[71]

Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker wrote that the show is built "around a series of metaphors: Vampire rights stand in for gay rights, and now the clever laughs elicited from this bratty-vampire girl represent an extreme of adolescent rebelliousness".[69] David Bianculli of NPR wrote, "True Blood is big on allegory, and the tension about accepting vampires into society is an obvious play on civil rights in general, and gay rights in particular".[71] However, the series' creator, Alan Ball, who is gay, has stated that such a comparison is lazy and possibly homophobic; and Lauren Gutterman of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies has expressed concerns that the show might perpetuate negative stereotypes of homosexuals as deviants.[70]

Graph of the US viewing figures of the first three seasons of True Blood.

The first episode of True Blood debuted at a very modest 1.44 million viewers compared to the network's past drama premiers such as Big Love which premiered at 4.56 million, and John from Cincinnati which debuted at 3.4 million.[72] However, by late November 2008, 6.8 million a week were watching: this figure included repeat and on-demand viewings.[73] The season finale's viewership was 2.4 million.

The second-season premiere of the series (June 14, 2009) was viewed by 3.7 million, making it the most watched program on HBO since the series finale of The Sopranos. The total number of viewers for the season premiere, including the late night replay, was 5.1 million.[74] The tenth episode of the second season (August 23, 2009) was seen by 5.3 million viewers, a new record for the series.[75] The second season's finale (September 13, 2009) was seen by 5.1 million viewers. An average of 12.4 million a week watched the second season.[76]

The ninth episode of the fourth season (August 21, 2011) set a new record with 5.53 million viewers, making it the most viewed episode to date.[77]

True Blood is HBO's most watched series since The Sopranos.[78] The show was declared the eighth highest rated show for the first ten years of IMDb.com Pro (2002–2012).[79]

The True Blood DVDs have been consistent best-sellers in the US. By the end of 2009, the first season DVD had sold over 1.6 million units and taken in over $57 million. It was the only TV show in the 50 top-selling DVDs of 2009,[89] the second season DVD sold a total of 1,159,509 units in 2010, earning over $41 million.[90] The third season DVD was the 61st best-selling DVD of 2011, selling almost 1 million copies and earning over $30 million, it was the best selling TV box set of 2011.[91] In its first week of release—the week ending June 2, 2012—season four debuted at number one on the UK "TV on Video" chart.[92] However, it reached only number six in the combined DVD chart;[93] in its first week of release in North America, it sold over 660,000 units, earning nearly $20 million.[94] In its second week of release in North America, it sold a further 120,000 units (making a combined total of 784,000 units sold), earning another $4 million.[95]

True Death: The Final Days on Set – Witness the final days of True Blood through the eyes of your favorite cast members as they document their experiences on their last times on set. See cast and crew as you have never seen them before, with this exclusive access. Be there as we say goodbye to the town of Bon Temps forever.

Dark fantasy
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Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy which can refer to literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate darker and frightening themes of fantasy. It also often combines fantasy elements of horror. The term can be used broadly to refer to works that have a gloomy, dark atmosphere, or a sense of horror. A strict definition for dark fantasy

Horror fiction
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Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle their readers or viewers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon has defined the horror story as a piece of fiction in prose of variable length, which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induc

Alan Ball (screenwriter)
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Alan Erwin Ball is an American writer, director, and producer for television, film, and theatre. Ball was born in Marietta, Georgia, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and his older sister, Mary Ann, was killed in a car accident when Ball was 13, he was in the passenger seat at the time. He attended high school in Marietta, and went on t

The Southern Vampire Mysteries
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The Southern Vampire Mysteries, also known as The True Blood Novels and The Sookie Stackhouse Novels, is a series of books written by bestselling author Charlaine Harris. The first installment, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001, the book series has been retronymed the True Blood Series upon reprinting, to cap

1.
Cover of Dead Ever After

Charlaine Harris
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Charlaine Harris Schulz is an American New York Times bestselling author who has been writing mysteries for thirty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area of the United States and she now lives in southern Arkansas with her husband and three children. Though her early work consisted largely of poems about ghosts and, late

1.
Charlaine Harris Schulz

Jace Everett
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Jace Everett is an American singer who performs country and rock music. He also co-wrote Josh Turners Number One single Your Man and his song Bad Things is the theme for the HBO series True Blood and peaked No.2 in Norway in 2009. In the same year, he released his album, Red Revelations. Jace Everett was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1972 and his

1.
Jace Everett

Nathan Barr
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Nathan Barr is a film and television composer known for playing the majority of the instruments heard in his compositions. While he is best known for scoring all seven seasons of HBOs Emmy Award-winning series, True Blood, Barr has recently composed music for FXs The Americans and Netflixs Hemlock Grove. On July 18,2013, Barr garnered a double Emmy

List of True Blood episodes
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True Blood is an American television drama series created by Alan Ball and based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. It aired on HBO from September 7,2008 to August 24,2014, a total of 80 episodes of True Blood were broadcast over seven seasons. Now they are struggling for equal rights and assimilation, while anti-vampire organiz

HBO
–
Home Box Office is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by Time Warner through its respective flagship company Home Box Office, Inc. HBO is the oldest and longest continuously operating pay television service in the United States, in 2014, HBO had an adjusted operating income of US$1.79 billion, compared to the U

1.
The RCA Satcom domestic communication satellite launched on December 13, 1975, spurred the cable television industry to unprecedented heights – with the assistance of HBO.

Horror and terror
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The distinction between horror and terror is a standard literary and psychological concept applied especially to Gothic literature and film. Terror is usually described as the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience, by contrast, horror is the feeling of revulsion that usually occurs after something frightening is

Sookie Stackhouse
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Sookie Stackhouse is a fictional character and protagonist of The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series, written by Charlaine Harris. In HBOs television adaptation, True Blood, Sookie is portrayed by Anna Paquin, Sookie was created by Charlaine Harris. Harris stated that she decided to shake up writing style by trying something new, the author sai

Anna Paquin
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Anna Helene Paquin is a Canadian-born New Zealand actress. As a child, she beat 5000 candidates for the role of Flora McGrath in Jane Campions romantic drama film The Piano, despite having had little to no acting experience prior to getting the role. For her performance, she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 11 an

Telepathy
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Telepathy is the purported transmission of information from one person to another without using any of our known sensory channels or physical interaction. Telepathy experiments have historically been criticized for lack of proper controls, there is no convincing evidence that telepathy exists, and the topic is generally considered by the scientific

Bill Compton (The Southern Vampire Mysteries)
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William Erasmus Bill Compton is a fictional character from the The Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse series by author Charlaine Harris. He is a vampire and is introduced in the first novel in the series, Dead Until Dark, in the fifth season of the television adaption, Bill plays the role of the main antagonist. In the book series, Bill w

Stephen Moyer
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Stephen Moyer is an English film and television actor and director who is best known as vampire Bill Compton in the HBO series True Blood. Moyers first television role was in 1993 as Philip Masefield in the TV adaptation of the play Conjugal Rites and this was followed by the television film Lord of Misrule, filmed in Fowey, Cornwall, which also fe

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Moyer in October 2013

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Moyer at ComicCon, July 25, 2009

Golden Globe
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Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony at which the awards are presented is a part of the film industrys awards season. The 74th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film, the 1st Golde

1.
The Golden Globe statuette

Emmy
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An Emmy Award, or simply Emmy, recognizes excellence in the television industry, and corresponds to the Academy Award, the Tony Award, and the Grammy Award. Because Emmy Awards are given in various sectors of the American television industry, Regional Emmy Awards are also presented throughout the country at various times through the year, recognizi

4.
Brazilian actress and TV host Fernanda Lima holding Rede Globo 's six medals of nominations to the International Emmys in 2012

Fictional universe
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A fictional universe is a self-consistent imaginary setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm, fictional universes may appear in novels, comics, films, television shows, video games and other creative works. What distinguishes a fictional univers

Vampire
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A vampire is a being from folklore who subsists by feeding on the life essence of the living. In European folklore, vampires were undead beings that often visited loved ones and they wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from todays gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th c

Supernatural
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One complicating factor is that there is disagreement about the definition of natural and the limits of naturalism. Concepts in the domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality. Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things, as when we say that nature makes the night succeed the day, nature hath made respira

Shapeshifting
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In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability of a being or creature to completely transform its physical form or shape. This is usually achieved through an inherent ability of a creature, divine intervention. The idea persisted through the Middle Ages, where the agency causing shapeshifting is usually a sorcerer or w

Werewolf
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Early sources for belief in lycanthropy are Petronius and Gervase of Tilbury. From the early period, werewolf beliefs also spread to the New World with colonialism. Belief in werewolves developed in parallel to the belief in witches, in the course of the Late Middle Ages, during the early period, accusations of lycanthropy were mixed with accusatio

Fairy
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A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural. According to Thomas Keightley, the word derives from the Latin fata. Other forms are the Italian fata, and the Provençal fada, in old French romance, fee was a woman skilled in magic, and

1.
A portrait of a fairy, by Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1869). The title of the painting is Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things - purportedly from a poem by Charles Ede.

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Classic representation of a small fairy with butterfly wings commonly used in modern times. Luis Ricardo Falero, 1888.

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A resin statue of a fairy

Witchcraft
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Witchcraft broadly means the practice of, and belief in, magical skills and abilities that are able to be exercised by individuals and certain social groups. Witchcraft often occupies a religious, divinatory or medicinal role, and is present within societies. The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have existed throughout recorded

Maenad
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In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the gods retinue. Their name literally translates as raving ones, often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy through a combination of dancing and intoxication. During these rites, the maena

1.
Furious Maenad, carrying a thyrsus and a leopard, with a snake rolled up over her head. Tondo of an Ancient Greek Attic white-ground kylix 490–480 BC from Vulci. Staatliche Antikensammlungen Munich Germany.

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Dionysus and two Maenads, as depicted by the Amasis Painter circa 550-530BC.

Sam Merlotte
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Sam Merlotte is a fictional character from the The Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse Series by author Charlaine Harris. Sam lives in the town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sam has strawberry blond hair with blue eyes and he is both a close friend of and the employer of mind-reading barmaid Sookie Stackhouse. His biological mother was a shifte

Sam Trammell
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Sam Trammell is an American actor. He is known for his role as Sam Merlotte on the HBO vampire series True Blood, Trammell was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Trammell has worked in theater, Broadway, Off-Broadway, film and he is an accomplished New York stage actor whose credits include a Tony nominated performance in Ah, Wilderness. Trammells big

Louisiana
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Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States and its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the state in the U. S. with political subdivisions termed parishes. The largest parish by population is East Ba

Tara Thornton
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Tara Mae Thornton is a fictional character in Charlaine Harriss The Southern Vampire Mysteries and their television adaptation, HBOs True Blood. Tara Mae Thornton is a twenty-something Louisiana native and lifelong friend of the main protagonist, compiling a description of her character is a complex task because quite a few facts about her changed

Rutina Wesley
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Rutina Wesley is an American film, stage, and television actress best known for her roles as Tara Thornton on the HBO series True Blood and Nova Bordelon on the OWN series Queen Sugar. Wesley was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and her father, Ivery Wheeler, is a professional tap dancer, and her mother, Cassandra Wesley, was a showgirl. She at

1.
Wesley in July 2012 at SDCC

Jason Stackhouse
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Jason Stackhouse is a fictional character from The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series by author Charlaine Harris. Introduced in the first novel, Dead Until Dark, Jason is Sookie Stackhouses older brother, Jason is known as a ladies man and is associated sexually with many women in Bon Temps and other neighboring communities. He is selfish and o

Ryan Kwanten
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Ryan Christian Kwanten is an Australian actor. He played Vinnie Patterson from 1997 to 2002 in the Australian soap opera Home, after his stint ended, he joined the American teen drama series Summerland, portraying Jay Robertson. In 2008, he was cast as Jason Stackhouse in True Blood, Kwanten was born in Sydney, the son of Kris, a Lifeline op shop c

Eric Northman
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Eric Northman is a fictional character in The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a series of thirteen books written by New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris. He is a vampire, slightly over one years old. Since the book series is told from the first person perspective of Sookie Stackhouse, hBOs television series True Blood is based on this boo

Nelsan Ellis
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Nelsan Ellis is an American film and television actor and playwright. Ellis was born in Harvey, Illinois, near Chicago, when Ellis and his siblings were younger, their mother, a single parent after her divorce from her childrens father, broke down over the death of her brother. Ellis and his siblings became wards of the state as a result and they w

1.
Ellis in June 2009

Short order cook
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A cook is a person who prepares food for consumption. A cook is sometimes referred to as a chef, although in the professional kitchen, the terms are not interchangeable. The term cook within a restaurant kitchen usually refers to a person with little to no influence on a menu and little to no command over others within the kitchen. These are usuall

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Two restaurant chefs

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A group of professional and aspiring cooks in a hotel kitchen (1990)

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A cook at work (15th- or 16th-century German illustration)

Medium (spirituality)
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Mediumship is the practice of certain people —known as mediums— to purportedly mediate communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings. There are different types of mediumship including spirit channeling, and ouija, humans have been fascinated with contacting the dead since the beginning of human existence. Cave paintings by indig

Six Feet Under (TV series)
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Six Feet Under is an American drama television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It premiered on the cable network HBO in the United States on June 3,2001 and ended on August 21,2005. The show depicts members of the Fisher family, who run a home in Los Angeles. The series traces these characters lives over the course of five years, the ense

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Six Feet Under

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The main characters of Six Feet Under in the first season. From left to right: Federico; Keith; David; Claire; Ruth; Nate; Nathaniel, Sr; and Brenda.

Dead Until Dark
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Dead Until Dark, published in 2001, is the first novel in Charlaine Harris series The Southern Vampire Mysteries. It is set at approximately the time as the books publication. However, in the world of the novel, vampires are a reality and this Great Revelation was an internationally televised event in which vampires expressed the desire for peacefu

1.
Cover of Dead Until Dark

2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike
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The WGAE and WGAW labor unions represent film, television, and radio writers working in the United States. All 12,000 screenwriters and TV writers in the guild were part of the strike started on November 5,2007. The strike sought increased funding for the writers in comparison to the profits of the larger studios and it was targeted at the Alliance

Deep South
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The Deep South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. Historically, it is differentiated from the Upper South as being the states most dependent on plantation-type agriculture, the Deep South was also commonly referred to as the Lower South or the Cotton States, for their production of cotton as the primary commodity

Jennifer Herrema
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Jennifer Herrema is an American rock music singer, songwriter, record producer, artist, and model best known for her work as one half of the rock band Royal Trux. Herrema started the Royal Trux band at the age of 16 with partner Neil Hagerty and she has also written lyrics for a song on Rachel Masons album The Ambassadors. She was the heroin chic p

1.
Jennifer Herrema

Royal Trux
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Royal Trux is an American alternative rock band active from 1987 to 2001. It was founded by Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema, while still a teenager, Hagerty joined Washington DC garage punk band Pussy Galore, led by Jon Spencer, and subsequently relocated to New York. During his time in Pussy Galore, Hagerty convinced his bandmates to release a r

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Royal Trux, 1999

Baptism
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Baptism is a Christian sacrament of admission and adoption, almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally. The canonical Gospels report that Jesus was baptized—a historical event to which a degree of certainty can be assigned. Baptism has been called a sacrament and an ordinance of Jesus Christ. In some denominations,

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Masaccio (1425–1426), Baptism of the Neophytes (it), Brancacci Chapel, Florence. This painting depicts baptism by affusion, which continues in the East except for infants, but in the West it had dropped almost completely out of use by the 15th century. The artist may have chosen an archaic form for this depiction of baptism by St. Peter.

Venus fly-trap
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The Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping structure formed by the portion of each of the plants leaves. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves co

Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-la

Seattle
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Seattle is a seaport city on the west coast of the United States and the seat of King County, Washington. With an estimated 684,451 residents as of 2015, Seattle is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. In July 2013, it was the major city in the United States. The city is situated on an

4.
Seattle's first streetcar, at the corner of Occidental and Yesler, 1884. All of the buildings visible in this picture were destroyed by fire five years later.

Instant film
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Instant film is a type of photographic film introduced by Polaroid to be used in an instant camera. The film contains the chemicals needed for developing and fixing the photograph, in earlier Polaroid instant cameras the film is pulled through rollers which breaks open a pod containing a reagent that is spread between the exposed negative and recei

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2 photographs recorded on instant films.

2.
Different stages of instant film.

3.
A sample shot of Polaroid Type 600, ISO 640, color film

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Type 667

Emulsion
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An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible. Emulsions are part of a general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Although the terms colloid and emulsion are sometimes used interchangeably, emulsion should be used when both phases, dispersed and continuous, are liquids, in an emulsion, one liquid is

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A. Two immiscible liquids, not yet emulsified B. An emulsion of Phase II dispersed in Phase I C. The unstable emulsion progressively separates D. The surfactant (outline around particles) positions itself on the interfaces between Phase II and Phase I, stabilizing the emulsion

TV Guide
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In 1948, he printed New York City area listings magazine The TeleVision Guide. Silent film star Gloria Swanson, who then starred of the variety series The Gloria Swanson Hour. Wagner later began publishing regional editions of The TeleVision Guide for New England, five years later, he sold the editions to Walter Annenberg, who folded it into his pu

1.
Dark fantasy
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Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy which can refer to literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate darker and frightening themes of fantasy. It also often combines fantasy elements of horror. The term can be used broadly to refer to works that have a gloomy, dark atmosphere, or a sense of horror. A strict definition for dark fantasy is difficult to pin down, gertrude Barrows Bennett has been called the woman who invented dark fantasy. Both Charles L. Grant and Karl Edward Wagner are credited with having coined the term dark fantasy—although both authors were describing different styles of fiction. Brian Stableford argues dark fantasy can be defined as subgenre of stories that attempt to incorporate elements of horror fiction into the standard formulae of fantasy stories. Additionally, other authors, critics, and publishers have adopted dark fantasy to describe various other works, however, these stories rarely share universal similarities beyond supernatural occurrences and a dark, often brooding, tone. As a result, dark fantasy cannot be connected to a defining set of tropes. The term itself may refer collectively to tales that are either horror-based or fantasy-based, some writers also use dark fantasy as an alternative description to horror, because they feel the latter term is too lurid or vivid. Charles L. Grant is often cited as having coined the term dark fantasy, Grant defined his brand of dark fantasy as a type of horror story in which humanity is threatened by forces beyond human understanding. He often used dark fantasy as an alternative to horror, as horror was increasingly associated with more visceral works. Dark fantasy is also used to describe stories told from a monsters point of view. Anne Rices The Vampire Chronicles, Chelsea Quinn Yarbros Saint-Germain, and this is in contrast to the traditional horror model, which focuses more on the victims and survivors. In a more general sense, dark fantasy is used as a synonym for supernatural horror. For example, a story about a werewolf or vampire could be described as dark fantasy, Karl Edward Wagner is often credited for creating the term dark fantasy when used in a more fantasy-based context. Wagner used it to describe his fiction about the Gothic warrior Kane, since then, dark fantasy has sometimes been applied to sword and sorcery and high fantasy fiction that features anti-heroic or morally ambiguous protagonists. Another good example under this definition of dark fantasy is Michael Moorcocks saga of the albino swordsman Elric. The fantasy work of H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and their imitators have been specified as dark fantasy, Dark fantasy is occasionally used to describe fantasy works by authors that the public primarily associates with the horror genre

2.
Horror fiction
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Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle their readers or viewers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon has defined the horror story as a piece of fiction in prose of variable length, which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing. It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere, Horror is frequently supernatural, though it can be non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society. The genre of horror has ancient origins with roots in folklore and religious traditions, focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic and these were manifested in stories of beings such as witches, vampires, werewolves and ghosts. 18th century Gothic horror drew on these sources with the seminal and controversial The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole and this marked the first incorporated elements of the supernatural instead of pure realism. In fact, the first edition was published disguised as a medieval romance from Italy discovered and republished by a fictitious translator. Once revealed as contemporary, many found it anachronistic, reactionary, or simply in poor taste — but it proved to be immediately popular. That first novel of Gothic horror inspired such works as Vathek by William Beckford, A Sicilian Romance, The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian by Ann Radcliffe and The Monk by Matthew Lewis. A significant amount of fiction of this era was written by women and marketed at a female audience. The Gothic tradition blossomed into the modern readers call horror literature in the 19th century. Each of these novels and novellas created an icon of horror seen in modern re-imaginings on the stage. The proliferation of periodicals, as early as the turn of the century. One writer who specialized in fiction for mainstream pulps such as All-Story Magazine was Tod Robbins, whose fiction dealt with themes of madness. Later, specialist publications emerged to give horror writers an outlet, including Weird Tales, influential horror writers of the early 20th century made inroads in these mediums. Early cinema was inspired by aspects of horror literature, and early horror cinema started a strong tradition of horror films. This imagery made these comics controversial, and as a consequence they were frequently censored, many modern novels claim an early description of the living dead in a precursor to the modern zombie tale, including Dennis Wheatleys Strange Conflict, H. P. Lovecraft stories such as Cool Air, In The Vault, richard Mathesons novel I Am Legend would also influence an entire genre of apocalyptic zombie fiction emblematic of the films of George A. Romero

3.
Alan Ball (screenwriter)
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Alan Erwin Ball is an American writer, director, and producer for television, film, and theatre. Ball was born in Marietta, Georgia, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and his older sister, Mary Ann, was killed in a car accident when Ball was 13, he was in the passenger seat at the time. He attended high school in Marietta, and went on to attend the University of Georgia and Florida State University, after college, he began work as a playwright at the General Nonsense Theater Company in Sarasota, Florida. Ball broke into television as a writer and story editor on the situation comedies Grace Under Fire, Ball has written two films, American Beauty and Towelhead, the latter of which he also produced and directed. He is also the creator, writer and executive producer of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and he was showrunner for True Blood for its first five seasons. In 2010 Ball began work on an adaptation of the crime noir novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston. In December 2010, after months of pre-production, HBO cancelled production on All Signs of Death. He is also one of the producers of the Cinemax series Banshee. In January 2015, it was announced that Balls period musical drama Virtuoso had had a pilot ordered by HBO, the pilot will be executively produced by Elton John. Confirmed actors to be starring in the show include Peter Macdissi, Iva Babic, Francois Civil, Lindsay Farris, Nico Mirallegro, Ball has discussed his Buddhist faith in numerous interviews, noting how it has influenced his film making. In an interview with Amazon. com, Ball commented on the scene in American Beauty with the plastic bag, stating. And I didnt have a camera, like Ricky does. Theres a Buddhist notion of the miraculous within the mundane, and I think we live in a culture that encourages us not to look for that. Ball has also discussed how his Buddhism has shaped themes in Six Feet Under, Ball is gay and has been called a strong voice for LGBT community. In 2008 he made Out magazines annual list of the 100 most impressive gay men and women and he lives in Los Angeles with his partner, Peter Macdissi, who has starred in several of Balls works. Alan Ball at TV. com Alan Ball at the Internet Movie Database Alan Ball at the Internet Off-Broadway Database Alan Ball interview video at the Archive of American Television

4.
The Southern Vampire Mysteries
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The Southern Vampire Mysteries, also known as The True Blood Novels and The Sookie Stackhouse Novels, is a series of books written by bestselling author Charlaine Harris. The first installment, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001, the book series has been retronymed the True Blood Series upon reprinting, to capitalize on the television adaptation. Exist but do not go public until later in the series, the setting is contemporary, and the stories occasionally reference popular culture. The series is narrated in first person perspective by Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress, the 12th book, Deadlocked, was released on May 1,2012. Harris was originally contracted to write 10 books, but she revealed at Comic Con 2009 that she has signed a contract for three additional books, on May 14,2012, Harris Facebook administrator announced that Dead Ever After would be the final book of the series. Worldwide, reaction to the vampires Great Revelation is mixed, the policy in Muslim countries is death and torture for vampires, while most African nations, Argentina, and Bosnia refuse to acknowledge vampires existence. Some nations, such as France, Germany, and Italy, acknowledge vampires and do not torture them, vampires are pale and cold, possess unfathomable strength and speed, and have keen senses of hearing, smell, and vision. This makes it easy for them to protect themselves and they also have the ability to remain completely still, expressionless, and silent. Vampires can control the minds of humans by staring into a humans eyes, vampires can induce complete or partial amnesia in a glamored human, and can compel them to do anything the vampire desires. A few vampires can even fly, others may have other powers, vampires fangs come out when they are hungry, see blood, are sexually aroused, or need to fight. All vampires are compelled to obey their individual maker and they can survive and recover from most forms of physical injury, but they will die if staked, exposed to sunlight, burnt by fire, completely drained of their blood, or decapitated. Silver is highly toxic to them and they cannot enter a home unless invited, and if an invitation is withdrawn, they are physically unable to remain on the premises. Since vampires can glamor humans to invite them to enter their homes, humans must avoid eye contact, fangbangers, the human cult followers fascinated by vampires, include volunteers willing to be bitten to provide fresh blood nourishment to vampires. If a vampire and a human blood, it will form a blood bond. Vampire blood without exchange is sought after by humans as a drug that can enhance strength, heal wounds, and increase attractiveness, among other desirable effects. Due to the shortage of willing vampire donors, human drainers attack vampires and drain their blood supply. The blood is sold as a drug, in vials on the underground market. It can be addictive, but may cause psychotic or murderous rampages by human users upon first use

The Southern Vampire Mysteries
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Cover of Dead Ever After

5.
Charlaine Harris
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Charlaine Harris Schulz is an American New York Times bestselling author who has been writing mysteries for thirty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area of the United States and she now lives in southern Arkansas with her husband and three children. Though her early work consisted largely of poems about ghosts and, later, teenage angst, she began writing plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis and she began to write books a few years later. Her later books have been in the fantasy genre. She is best known for The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, which HBO later adapted for its series entitled True Blood. Harris was born in Tunica, Mississippi, after publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris began the lighthearted Aurora Teagarden books with Real Murders, a Best Novel 1990 nomination for the Agatha Awards. Harris wrote several books in the series before the mid-1990s when she began branching out into other works and she did not resume the series until 1999, with the exception of one short story in a Murder, She Wrote anthology titled Murder, They Wrote. In 1996, she released the first in the Shakespeare series featuring cleaning lady detective Lily Bard, Harris lives in small-town Arkansas, according to a New York Times interview. The fifth book in the series, Shakespeares Counselor, was printed in fall 2001, Harris has stated on her website that she has finished with the series. After Shakespeare, Harris created The Southern Vampire Mysteries series about a waitress named Sookie Stackhouse who works in a northern Louisiana bar. The first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001, each book follows Sookie as she tries to solve mysteries involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. Harris wrote thirteen novels in the series, the thirteenth and final novel in the series, Dead Ever After, was published in May 2013, with a supplemental book, After Dead, released in October 2013. Sookie Stackhouse had proven to be so popular that Alan Ball, creator of the HBO television series Six Feet Under and he wrote and directed the pilot episode for the series, True Blood, which premiered on September 7,2008 on HBO. The television show was a critical and financial success for HBO running 7 seasons through the 2014 year, October 2005 marked the debut of Harriss new series entitled The Harper Connelly Mysteries, with the release of Grave Sight. The series is told by a woman named Harper Connelly. In October 2010, it was announced Harper Connellys series had been optioned for a series named Grave Sight. 2014 marked the debut of the Cemetery Girl series, a novel series co-written with Christopher Golden. Professionally, Harris is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and she is a member of the board of Sisters in Crime, and alternates with Joan Hess as president of the Arkansas Mystery Writers Alliance

Charlaine Harris
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Charlaine Harris Schulz

6.
Jace Everett
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Jace Everett is an American singer who performs country and rock music. He also co-wrote Josh Turners Number One single Your Man and his song Bad Things is the theme for the HBO series True Blood and peaked No.2 in Norway in 2009. In the same year, he released his album, Red Revelations. Jace Everett was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1972 and his fathers jobs kept them on the move through Indianapolis and then St. Louis, MO before moving to Fort Worth, TX at the age of six. He started playing music in his church and in school concerts and he later moved to Nashville, TN to attend Belmont University. He has a son, Jacques Beasley, born in 1996, in 2005, Everett was signed to Epic Records. He released his first single, Thats The Kind of Love Im In and this song charted at No.52 on the country charts, and was followed in early 2006 by the release of his self-titled debut album. Also in 2006, Josh Turner charted at Number One on the charts with the song Your Man, which Everett co-wrote. Bad Things is used as the song for the HBO TV series True Blood. Charlaine Harris pays homage to the song by including Bad Things playing at Merlottes in the 2010 Sookie Stackhouse mystery Dead in the Family. It won a 2009 Broadcast Music Incorporated award in the television category and was nominated for a 2009 Scream Award for Best Scream Song of the Year. His album, entitled Red Revelations, was released in June 2009 and his duet Evil, a cover of the song written by Willie Dixon, with CC Adcock is part of the True Blood season 2 soundtrack. A new album, Mr. Good Times was released in 2011 and his latest album, Terra Rosa was released digitally on July 23,2013. It was subsequently released on physical formats

Jace Everett
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Jace Everett

7.
Nathan Barr
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Nathan Barr is a film and television composer known for playing the majority of the instruments heard in his compositions. While he is best known for scoring all seven seasons of HBOs Emmy Award-winning series, True Blood, Barr has recently composed music for FXs The Americans and Netflixs Hemlock Grove. On July 18,2013, Barr garnered a double Emmy nomination for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music based on his work on The Americans, nathan Barr started studying music in Tokyo, Japan at the age of four. His interest in music and collecting rare and unusual instruments lead him to all over the world. He has said he owns a trumpet made out of a human femur, Barr studied at Skidmore College, and in 1993 toured Italy and Switzerland with the Juilliard Cello Ensemble. In 1996, Barr moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in composing film, one of his first jobs was working under the tutelage of world-renowned composer, Hans Zimmer, on films such as As Good as It Gets and The Prince of Egypt. Shortly thereafter, he branched out on his own and landed his first solo-venture on the Lionsgate comedy Too Smooth, since then, Barr has scored a large array of feature films and TV series, most notably scoring all episodes of HBOs hit series True Blood. Barr is openly bisexual, and is in a relationship with a man as of 2014

8.
List of True Blood episodes
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True Blood is an American television drama series created by Alan Ball and based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. It aired on HBO from September 7,2008 to August 24,2014, a total of 80 episodes of True Blood were broadcast over seven seasons. Now they are struggling for equal rights and assimilation, while anti-vampire organizations begin to gain power, True Blood follows a serialized format, with every episode ending on a cliffhanger that leads directly into the next. Episode titles are taken from the name of a song appears on the soundtrack of that episode. HBO began airing six mini-episodes of Drop of True Blood on April 24,2010 to lead up to the season three premiere, official website List of True Blood episodes at the Internet Movie Database

List of True Blood episodes
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Contents

9.
HBO
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Home Box Office is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by Time Warner through its respective flagship company Home Box Office, Inc. HBO is the oldest and longest continuously operating pay television service in the United States, in 2014, HBO had an adjusted operating income of US$1.79 billion, compared to the US$1.68 billion it accrued in 2013. HBO has 49 million subscribers in the United States and 130 million worldwide as of 2016, the network provides seven 24-hour multiplex channels, including HBO Comedy, HBO Latino, HBO Signature and HBO Family. It launched the streaming service HBO Now in April 2015, and has over 2 million subscribers in the United States as of February 2017. In addition to its U. S. subscriber base, HBO distributes content in at least 151 countries, HBO subscribers generally pay for an extra tier of service that includes other cable- and satellite-exclusive channels even before paying for the channel itself. Cable providers can require the use of a converter box – usually digital – in order to receive HBO, many HBO programs have been syndicated to other networks and broadcast television stations, and a number of HBO-produced series and films have been released on DVD. The new system, which Dolan named Sterling Information Services, became the first urban underground cable system in the United States. In that same year, Time-Life, Inc. purchased a 20% stake in Dolans company, in the summer of 1971, while on a family vacation in France, Charles Dolan began to think of ideas to make Sterling Manhattan profitable. He came up with the concept for a television service. Dolan later presented his idea to Time-Life management, though satellite distribution seemed only a distant possibility at the time, he persuaded Time-Life to back him on the project. To gauge whether consumers would be interested in subscribing to a pay television service, in a meeting of Dolan and some Time-Life executives who were working on the project, various other names were discussed for the new service. Home Box Office launched on November 8,1972, however, HBOs launch came without fanfare in the press, as it was not covered by any local or national media outlets. Home Box Office distributed its first sports event immediately after the film, Four months later in February 1973, Home Box Office aired its first television special, the Pennsylvania Polka Festival. Home Box Office would use a network of relay towers to distribute its programming to cable systems throughout its service area. Sterling Manhattan Cable continued to lose money because the company had only a small base of 20,000 customers in Manhattan. Time-Life dropped the Sterling name and the company was renamed Manhattan Cable Television under Time-Lifes control in March 1973, Gerald Levin, who had been with Home Box Office since it began operations as its vice president of programming, replaced Dolan as the companys president and chief executive officer. In September 1973, Time-Life, Inc. completed its acquisition of the pay service. HBO would eventually increase its fortunes within two years, by April 1975, the service had around 100,000 subscribers in Pennsylvania and New York state, in 1974, they settled on using a geostationary communications satellite to transmit HBO to cable providers throughout the United States

HBO
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The RCA Satcom domestic communication satellite launched on December 13, 1975, spurred the cable television industry to unprecedented heights – with the assistance of HBO.
HBO
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Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi and former New Jersey GovernorJim McGreevey at the New York City premiere of Pelosi's HBO documentary about McGreevey, Fall to Grace, in March 2013.
HBO
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Example of Festival's monthly guide provided to subscribers (January 1988).

10.
Horror and terror
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The distinction between horror and terror is a standard literary and psychological concept applied especially to Gothic literature and film. Terror is usually described as the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience, by contrast, horror is the feeling of revulsion that usually occurs after something frightening is seen, heard, or otherwise experienced. It is the feeling one gets after coming to a realization or experiencing a deeply unpleasant occurrence. In other words, horror is more related to being shocked or scared, Horror has also been defined as a combination of terror and revulsion. The distinction between terror and horror was first characterized by the Gothic writer Ann Radcliffe, terror is characterized by obscurity or indeterminacy in its treatment of potentially horrible events, it is this indeterminacy which leads to the sublime. She says in the essay that it expands the soul and awakens the faculties to a degree of life. Horror, in contrast, freezes and nearly annihilates them with its unambiguous displays of atrocity, Horror is also a genre of film and fiction that relies on horrifying images or situations to tell stories and prompt reactions in their audiences. In these films the moment of horrifying revelation is usually preceded by a build up. In his non-fiction book Danse Macabre, Stephen King elaborated on the themes of terror and horror and he describes terror as the finest element of the three, and the one he strives hardest to maintain in his own writing. Citing many examples, he defines terror as the moment in horror before the actual monster is revealed. Horror, King writes, is that moment at which one sees the creature/aberration that causes the terror or suspense, but if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, Ill go for the gross-out. Fantastic art Fear Horror fiction Horror film Monster literature Nightmare Steven Bruhm Gothic Bodies, gary Crawford Criticism in J. Sullivan The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. Ann Radcliffe On the Supernatural in Poetry in The New Monthly Magazine 7,1826, gina Wisker Horror Fiction, An Introduction. Julian Hanich Cinematic Emotion in Horror Films and Thrillers, the Aesthetic Paradox of Pleasurable Fear. Noël Carroll The Philosophy of Horror, Or, Paradoxes of the Heart

11.
Sookie Stackhouse
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Sookie Stackhouse is a fictional character and protagonist of The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series, written by Charlaine Harris. In HBOs television adaptation, True Blood, Sookie is portrayed by Anna Paquin, Sookie was created by Charlaine Harris. Harris stated that she decided to shake up writing style by trying something new, the author said that to do this she would include all the elements I loved, mystery, the supernatural, bloody adventure, and a dash of romance. And since people had told me for years that I had a sense of humor, I thought it would be interesting to try to include that in the book. Harris went on to establish the protagonist of the series, when naming the character Harris decided to use her grandmothers best friends name because it was a fine old Southern nickname, I thought it would do well for my heroine. And Stackhouse just flowed right after it, Sookie, Sooky, Sukie, Sukey, Sook etc. are historical Southern U. S. regional nicknames for Susannah or Susan. Harris wanted to write from the point of view of a human, Harris then decided she would have to establish a reason sensible Sookie would do such a crazy thing which led to her giving Sookie the power of telepathy. In an interview Harris stated that making Sookie telepathic is the worst thing I could think of to do to anybody and she explained this further saying it would just be absolutely horrible to know what people really thought about you. Harris felt that there are elements of Sookie in me—or, more correctly. I wish I were as brave as she is, Harris said that when writing for Sookie it is second nature to me to step into Sookies skin. Anna Paquin was cast in the HBO television adaptation True Blood, I think she does a great job, but shes just not my Sookie. Sookie, a telepath and waitress working in Merlottes Bar and Grill in Bon Temps and she meets and falls in love with Bill Compton, a vampire to whom she is attracted partly because she cannot read his mind. Sookie saves Bill from Denise and Mack Rattray who intend to drain their victims blood for use as a narcotic, Sookie is later attacked by the Rattrays but Bill saves Sookie and kills her attackers. Several murders occur in Bon Temps with Sookies brother Jason and Bill both becoming suspects due to the presence of fang marks on the victims and to their previous relationships with Jason. After Jason is arrested, Sookie visits a bar, Fangtasia. Sookie meets vampire sheriff Eric Northman who discovers the waitress telepathy, Sookie uses this ability to help Eric discover that vampire Long Shadow has been embezzling from Fangtasia. A confrontation ensues and Eric saves Sookies life by staking Long Shadow when he attacks her, Sookie discovers her Gran, Adele, has been murdered. Bill leaves to improve his position in the vampire hierarchy, Sookie discovers that her boss, Sam, is a shape-shifter

12.
Anna Paquin
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Anna Helene Paquin is a Canadian-born New Zealand actress. As a child, she beat 5000 candidates for the role of Flora McGrath in Jane Campions romantic drama film The Piano, despite having had little to no acting experience prior to getting the role. For her performance, she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 11 and she played mutant superheroine Rogue in multiple films of the X-Men franchise and was nominated for a Saturn Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in the first installment. Paquin is also known for playing the role of Sookie Stackhouse in the HBO vampire drama television series True Blood. Paquin has been married since 2010 to actor Stephen Moyer, with whom she has two children, Paquin has two older siblings, Andrew, a director, and Katya, whose partner is the Green Party of New Zealands former co-leader Russel Norman. Paquin is of Dutch, French and Irish descent, Paquins family moved to New Zealand when she was four. She attended the Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School until she was eight or nine and her musical childhood hobbies in New Zealand included playing the viola, cello and piano. She also participated in gymnastics, ballet, swimming and downhill skiing, while in New Zealand, Paquin attended Hutt Intermediate School. She graduated from Windward School in June 2000 and completed the schools Community Service requirement by working in a soup kitchen and she studied at Columbia University for one year but has since been on a leave of absence to continue her acting career. Director Jane Campion was looking for a girl to play a main role in The Piano, set to film in New Zealand. Paquins sister read the ad and went to try out with a friend, when The Piano was released in 1993 it was lauded by critics, won prizes at a number of film festivals, and eventually became a popular film among a wide audience. Paquins debut performance in the film earned her the 1993 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 11, making her the second-youngest Oscar winner in history, behind Tatum ONeal. The Piano was made as a independent film and wasnt expected to be widely known. However, she was invited to the William Morris Agency, and she systematically refused them, but she did appear in three commercials for the phone company MCI in 1994. She later made a series of commercials for Manitoba Telecom Systems in her birth city of Winnipeg. She also appeared as a voice in a book entitled The Magnificent Nose in 1994. In 1996, she appeared in two films, the first role was as young Jane in Jane Eyre. The other was a part in Fly Away Home playing a young girl who, after her mother dies, moves in with her father

13.
Telepathy
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Telepathy is the purported transmission of information from one person to another without using any of our known sensory channels or physical interaction. Telepathy experiments have historically been criticized for lack of proper controls, there is no convincing evidence that telepathy exists, and the topic is generally considered by the scientific community to be pseudoscience. Telepathy is a theme in modern fiction and science fiction, with many extraterrestrials, superheroes. As the physical sciences made significant advances, scientific concepts were applied to mental phenomena, the modern concept of telepathy emerged in this context. The skeptic Eric Dingwall criticized SPR founding members Frederic W. H. Myers, in the late 19th century the magician Washington Irving Bishop would perform thought reading demonstrations. Bishop claimed no supernatural powers and ascribed his powers to muscular sensitivity, Bishop was investigated by a group of scientists including the editor of the British Medical Journal and the psychologist Francis Galton. Bishop performed several feats such as correctly identifying a selected spot on a table. During the experiment Bishop required physical contact with a subject who knew the correct answer and he would hold the hand or wrist of the helper. The scientists concluded that Bishop was not a telepath but using a highly trained skill to detect ideomotor movements. Another famous thought reader was the magician Stuart Cumberland, Cumberland claimed to possess no genuine psychic ability and his thought reading performances could only be demonstrated by holding the hand of his subject to read their muscular movements. He came into dispute with psychical researchers associated with the Society for Psychical Research who were searching for genuine cases of telepathy. Cumberland argued that telepathy and communication with the dead were impossible and that the mind of man can not be read through telepathy. In the late 19th century the Creery Sisters were tested by the Society for Psychical Research, however, during a later experiment they were caught utilizing signal codes and they confessed to fraud. G. A. Smith and myself have been accepted and cited as the evidence of the truth of thought transference. The psychologist Leonard T. Troland had carried out experiments in telepathy at Harvard University which were reported in 1917, the subjects produced below chance expectations. Arthur Conan Doyle and W. T, Stead were duped into believing Julius and Agnes Zancig had genuine psychic powers. Both Doyle and Stead wrote the Zancigs performed telepathy, the results revealed no evidence for telepathy. She attempted to duplicate 290 pictures which were drawn by her husband, Sinclair claimed Mary successfully duplicated 65 of them, with 155 partial successes and 70 failures

14.
Bill Compton (The Southern Vampire Mysteries)
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William Erasmus Bill Compton is a fictional character from the The Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse series by author Charlaine Harris. He is a vampire and is introduced in the first novel in the series, Dead Until Dark, in the fifth season of the television adaption, Bill plays the role of the main antagonist. In the book series, Bill was born on April 9,1840 and he lived in Bon Temps, Louisiana, and fought for the South during the Civil War. He was a farmer with three children. On November 20,1868, some years after the war, he was made a vampire by Lorena, with whom he had a long and stormy relationship. Later in the series, Bill discovers that he is related to the Bellefleur family in Bon Temps. In Living Dead in Dallas Bills middle name is given as Thomas, at the end of the first novel, Dead Until Dark, Bill is concerned about the power of Area Five sheriff Eric over him and Sookie. He decides to apply for that areas investigator position and he gets it and it was revealed that Bill works for Queen Sophie-Anne and she has sent him to Bon Temps to investigate Sookie Stackhouses telepathic abilities. Bill is also the creator of a database in which all the vampires in North America are listed along with their significant information. Vampires from other areas of the world, such as Peru, have provided information for this database. The database itself has been controversial because of security issues and is only available for purchase to other vampires. While most older vampires have good memories, Bills ability to recall precise details, faces and conversations is reputed to be exceptional, even among other long-lived supernaturals. Sookie Stackhouse In the first book, Dead Until Dark, Bill has returned to his home in Bon Temps. After briefly meeting Sookie at her place of work, Merlottes bar, Sookie saves Bill from being drained by the Rattrays, Bill later saves Sookie by giving her his blood when the Rattrays seek revenge. They subsequently embark on Sookies first serious romantic relationship, Sookie has to endure a fair amount of dislike from the Bon Temps locals. Sookie and Bills relationship falls apart when Bill is called back to his maker, Lorena, Bill continues to appear in the novels, but his relationship with Sookie is not romantic in nature, and by the events of Dead Reckoning he has become a trusted friend. Lorena Ball In the third book, Club Dead, Lorena is introduced as Bills maker and they were lovers since Bill became a vampire and they had an intense relationship. They broke up eighty years ago, in this novel, Bill tells Sookie that he had gone to Jackson because Lorena had called him and he was obeying her summons

15.
Stephen Moyer
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Stephen Moyer is an English film and television actor and director who is best known as vampire Bill Compton in the HBO series True Blood. Moyers first television role was in 1993 as Philip Masefield in the TV adaptation of the play Conjugal Rites and this was followed by the television film Lord of Misrule, filmed in Fowey, Cornwall, which also featured Richard Wilson, Emily Mortimer and Prunella Scales. In 1997, Moyer made his big-screen debut landing the role in the film adaptation of the long-running comic strip Prince Valiant by Hal Foster, working alongside Ron Perlman. Moyer was born in Brentwood, Essex and he attended St Martins School, a comprehensive school in Hutton, Essex, and graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He became Brentwood Theatres first patron in October 2007, especially supporting their Reaching Out, after graduating from LAMDA, Moyer worked in theatre for five years. He worked with the National Theatre Wales, the Royal Shakespeare Company and he then made the transition to television and film. In August 2009, Moyer became engaged to actress Anna Paquin and they had been dating since filming the series pilot in 2007. The couple married on 21 August 2010 at a residence in Malibu. Moyer and Paquin have a son, Charlie, and a daughter, Poppy, the family resides in Venice, Los Angeles. Moyer also has a son, Billy, born in 2000 and daughter, Lilac, Moyer has dealt with alcoholism in the past. He has been sober for 14 years and has said that the addiction stemmed from his roots in British theater, at a CLARE Foundation dinner he stated, “There’s this rush that happens from doing our job, this whirring buzz, and you want to continue that buzz. He now works with CLARE Foundation to help others with rehabilitation, stephen Moyer at the Internet Movie Database allstephenmoyer. com simplymoyer. com

16.
Golden Globe
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Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony at which the awards are presented is a part of the film industrys awards season. The 74th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film, the 1st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best achievements in 1943 filmmaking, was held in January 1944, at the 20th Century-Fox studios. Subsequent ceremonies were held at venues throughout the next decade, including the Beverly Hills Hotel. In 1950, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the decision to establish an honorary award to recognize outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Recognizing its subject as a figure within the entertainment industry. The official name of the award became the Cecil B. In 1963, the Miss Golden Globe concept was introduced, in its inaugural year, two Miss Golden Globes were named, one for film and one for television. The two Miss Golden Globes named that year were Eva Six and Donna Douglas, respectively, in 2009, the Golden Globe statuette was redesigned. It was unveiled at a conference at the Beverly Hilton prior to the show. The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, telecast to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars, gervais returned to host the 68th and 69th Golden Globe Awards the next two years. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 70th, 71st and 72nd Golden Globe Awards in 2015, the Golden Globe Awards theme song, which debuted in 2012, was written by Japanese musician and songwriter Yoshiki Hayashi. On January 7,2008, it was announced due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The ceremony was faced with a threat by striking writers to picket the event, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was forced to adopt another approach for the broadcast. In acting categories, Meryl Streep holds the record for the most competitive Golden Globe wins with eight, however, including honorary awards, such as the Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite Actor/Actress Award, or Cecil B. DeMille Award, Barbra Streisand leads with nine, additionally, Streisand won for composing the song Evergreen, producing the Best Picture, and directing Yentl in 1984. Jack Nicholson, Angela Lansbury, Alan Alda and Shirley MacLaine have six awards each, behind them are Rosalind Russell and Jessica Lange with five wins. Meryl Streep also holds the record for most nominations with thirty, at the 46th Golden Globe Awards an anomaly occurred, a three way-tie for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

Golden Globe
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The Golden Globe statuette

17.
Emmy
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An Emmy Award, or simply Emmy, recognizes excellence in the television industry, and corresponds to the Academy Award, the Tony Award, and the Grammy Award. Because Emmy Awards are given in various sectors of the American television industry, Regional Emmy Awards are also presented throughout the country at various times through the year, recognizing excellence in local and statewide television. In addition, International Emmys are awarded for excellence in TV programming produced, each is responsible for administering a particular set of Emmy ceremonies. The Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences established the Emmy Award as part of an image-building and public relations opportunity. The first Emmy Awards ceremony took place on January 25,1949, at the Hollywood Athletic Club, shirley Dinsdale has the distinction of receiving the very first Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, during that first awards ceremony. In the 1950s, the ATAS expanded the Emmys into a national event, in 1955, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences was formed in New York City as a sister organization to serve members on the East Coast, and help to also supervise the Emmys. The NATAS also established regional chapters throughout the United States, with each one developing their own local Emmy awards show for local programming, the ATAS still however maintained its separate regional ceremony honoring local programming in the Los Angeles Area. Originally there was only one Emmy Awards ceremony held per year to honor shows nationally broadcast in the United States, in 1974, the first Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony was held to specifically honor achievement in national daytime programming. Other area-specific Emmy Awards ceremonies soon followed, also, the International Emmy Awards, honoring television programs produced and initially aired outside the U. S. was established in the early 1970s. Meanwhile, all Emmys awarded prior to the emergence of these separate, in 1977, due to various conflicts, the ATAS and the NATAS agreed to split ties. However, they agreed to share ownership of the Emmy statue and trademark. With the rise of television in the 1980s, cable programs first became eligible for the Primetime Emmys in 1988. The ATAS also began accepting original online-only web television programs in 2013, the Emmy statuette, depicting a winged woman holding an atom, was designed by television engineer Louis McManus, who used his wife as the model. The TV Academy rejected a total of forty-seven proposals before settling on McManus design in 1948. The statuette has become the symbol of the TV Academys goal of supporting and uplifting the art and science of television, The wings represent the muse of art. When deciding a name for the award, Academy founder Syd Cassyd originally suggested Ike, however, Ike was also the popular nickname of World War II hero and future U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the Academy members wanted something unique. Finally, television engineer and the third president, Harry Lubcke, suggested the name Immy. After Immy was chosen, it was feminized to Emmy to match their female statuette

18.
Fictional universe
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A fictional universe is a self-consistent imaginary setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm, fictional universes may appear in novels, comics, films, television shows, video games and other creative works. What distinguishes a fictional universe from a setting is the level of detail. A fictional universe has a continuity and internal logic that must be adhered to throughout the work. So, for instance, many books may be set in conflicting fictional versions of Victorian London, however, the various film series based on Sherlock Holmes follow their own separate continuities, and so do not take place in the same fictional universe. The history and geography of a universe are well-defined, and maps. When subsequent works are written within the universe, care is usually taken to ensure that established facts of the canon are not violated. Even if the fictional universe involves concepts such as magic that dont exist in the real world, a famous example of a detailed fictional universe is Arda, of J. R. R. Tolkiens books The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. He created first its languages and then the world itself, which he states was primarily linguistic in inspiration and was begun in order to provide the history for the Elvish tongues. Another, more recent, famous fictional universe is that of the Avatar film series, as James Cameron has invented an entire ecosystem, also, he commissioned a linguistics expert to invent the Navi language. Virtually every successful fictional TV series or comic book develops its own universe to keep track of the episodes or issues. Writers for that series must follow the story bible, which becomes the series canon. This creates a universe that future authors can write about. These stories about the universe or universes that existed before the retcon are usually not canonical, Crisis on Infinite Earths was an especially sweeping example. Some writers choose to introduce elements or characters from one work into another, for example, the character of Ursula Buffay from American sitcom Mad About You was also a recurring guest star in Friends, despite the two series having little else in common. Fellow NBC series Seinfeld also contained references to Mad About You. L. Frank Baum introduced the characters of Capn Bill and Trot, the two characters made a number of subsequent appearances in later Oz books. Sir Thomas Mores Utopia is one of the earliest examples of a fictional world with its own rules and functional concepts

19.
Vampire
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A vampire is a being from folklore who subsists by feeding on the life essence of the living. In European folklore, vampires were undead beings that often visited loved ones and they wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from todays gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. In modern times, however, the vampire is generally held to be a fictitious entity, porphyria was also linked with legends of vampirism in 1985 and received much media exposure, but has since been largely discredited. However, it is Bram Stokers 1897 novel Dracula which is remembered as the vampire novel. The success of this book spawned a distinctive vampire genre, still popular in the 21st century, with books, films, the vampire has since become a dominant figure in the horror genre. Vampires had already discussed in French and German literature. After Austria gained control of northern Serbia and Oltenia with the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, officials noted the practice of exhuming bodies. These reports, prepared between 1725 and 1732, received widespread publicity, among the proposed proto-Slavic forms are *ǫpyrь and *ǫpirь. Another, less widespread theory, is that the Slavic languages have borrowed the word from a Turkic term for witch. Czech linguist Václav Machek proposes Slovak verb vrepiť sa, or its hypothetical anagram vperiť sa as an etymological background, and thus translates upír as someone who thrusts, bites. An early use of the Old Russian word is in the anti-pagan treatise Word of Saint Grigoriy, dated variously to the 11th–13th centuries, the notion of vampirism has existed for millennia. Cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, and Romans had tales of demons and spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires. In most cases, vampires are revenants of evil beings, suicide victims, or witches, belief in such legends became so pervasive that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires. It is difficult to make a single, definitive description of the folkloric vampire, vampires were usually reported as bloated in appearance, and ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour, these characteristics were often attributed to the recent drinking of blood. Indeed, blood was often seen seeping from the mouth and nose when one was seen in its shroud or coffin and its left eye was often open. It would be clad in the linen shroud it was buried in, and its teeth, hair, although vampires were generally described as undead, some folktales spoke of them as living beings. The causes of vampiric generation were many and varied in original folklore, in Slavic and Chinese traditions, any corpse that was jumped over by an animal, particularly a dog or a cat, was feared to become one of the undead

20.
Supernatural
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One complicating factor is that there is disagreement about the definition of natural and the limits of naturalism. Concepts in the domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality. Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things, as when we say that nature makes the night succeed the day, nature hath made respiration necessary to the life of men. Sometimes we take nature for the universe, or system of the works of God, as when it is said of a phoenix, or a chimera. And sometimes too, and that most commonly, we would express by nature a semi-deity or other kind of being. Parapsychologists use the term psi to refer to a unitary force underlying the phenomena they study. Views on the supernatural vary, for example it may be seen as, from this perspective, some events occur according to the laws of nature, and others occur according to a separate set of principles external to known nature. For example, in Scholasticism, it was believed that God was capable of performing any miracle so long as it didnt lead to a logical contradiction, others believe that all events have natural and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural events, such as lightning, rainbows, floods, the supernatural is a feature of the philosophical traditions of Neoplatonism and Scholasticism. In contrast, the philosophy of Metaphysical naturalism argues for the conclusion that there are no supernatural entities, objects, most religions include elements of belief in the supernatural while also often featuring prominently in the study of the paranormal and occultism. Process theology is a school of thought influenced by the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. It is not possible, in process metaphysics, to conceive divine activity as an intervention into the “natural” order of events. Process theists usually regard the distinction between the supernatural and the natural as a by-product of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, in process thought, there is no such thing as a realm of the natural in contrast to that which is supernatural. On the other hand, if “the natural” is defined more neutrally as “what is in the nature of things, in Whiteheads words, “It lies in the nature of things that the many enter into complex unity”. It is tempting to emphasize process theisms denial of the supernatural, dreams as a Source of Supernatural Agent Concepts. Riekki T, Lindeman M, Raij T. T, Supernatural Believers Attribute More Intentions to Random Movement than Skeptics, An fMRI Study. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Purzycki Benjamin G, the Minds of Gods, A Comparative Study of Supernatural Agency. Unresolved Mourning, Supernatural Beliefs and Dissociation, A Mediation Analysis, vail K. E, Arndt J, Addollahi A

21.
Shapeshifting
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In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability of a being or creature to completely transform its physical form or shape. This is usually achieved through an inherent ability of a creature, divine intervention. The idea persisted through the Middle Ages, where the agency causing shapeshifting is usually a sorcerer or witch and it remains a common trope in modern fantasy, childrens literature, and works of popular culture. The most common form of shapeshifting myths is that of therianthropy, legends allow for transformations into plants and objects, and the assumption of another human countenance. Shapeshifting to the form of a wolf is known as lycanthropy. Therianthropy is the general term for human-animal shifts, but it is rarely used in that capacity. It was also common for deities to transform mortals into animals, other terms for shapeshifters include metamorph, the Navajo skin-walker, mimic, and therianthrope. The prefix were-, coming from the Old English word for man, is used to designate shapeshifters, despite its root. While the popular idea of a shapeshifter is of a human being who turns into something else, proteus was noted among the gods for his shapeshifting, both Menelaus and Aristaeus seized him to win information from him, and succeeded only because they held on during his various changes. Nereus told Heracles where to find the Apples of the Hesperides for the same reason, the Titan Metis, the first wife of Zeus and the mother of the goddess Athena, was believed to be able to change her appearance into anything she wanted. In one story, she was so proud, that her husband, Zeus and he then swallowed her because he feared that he and Metis would have a son who would be more powerful than Zeus himself. She stayed alive inside his head and built armor for her daughter, the banging of her metalworking made Zeus have a headache, so Hephaestus clove his head with an axe. Athena sprang from her fathers head, fully grown, and in battle armor, in Greek mythology, the transformation is often a punishment from the gods to humans who crossed them. Zeus transformed King Lycaon into a wolf as a punishment for either killing Zeus children or serving him the flesh of Lycaons own murdered son Nyctimus, Demeter transformed Ascalabus into a lizard for mocking her sorrow and thirst during her search for her daughter Persephone. She also turned King Lyncus into a lynx for trying to murder her prophet Triptolemus, Athena transformed Arachne into a spider for challenging her as a weaver and/or weaving a tapestry that insulted the gods. Artemis transformed Actaeon into a stag for spying on her bathing, io was a priestess of Hera in Argos, a nymph who was raped by Zeus, who changed her into a heifer to escape detection. The young Tiresias was walking through a forest when he found two snakes in the act of love and he poked them with a stick and was instantly changed into a woman. He lived in this form for many years, and even married and had children

22.
Werewolf
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Early sources for belief in lycanthropy are Petronius and Gervase of Tilbury. From the early period, werewolf beliefs also spread to the New World with colonialism. Belief in werewolves developed in parallel to the belief in witches, in the course of the Late Middle Ages, during the early period, accusations of lycanthropy were mixed with accusations of wolf-riding or wolf-charming. The case of Peter Stumpp led to a significant peak in both interest in and persecution of supposed werewolves, primarily in French-speaking and German-speaking Europe, the trappings of horror literature in the 20th century became part of the horror and fantasy genre of modern pop culture. The word werewolf continues a late Old English werwulf, a compound of were man, the only Old High German testimony is in the form of a given name, Weriuuolf, although an early Middle High German werwolf is found in Burchard of Worms and Berthold of Regensburg. The word or concept does not occur in medieval German poetry or fiction, Middle Latin gerulphus Anglo-Norman garwalf, Old Frankish *wariwulf. Old Norse had the cognate varúlfur, but because of the importance of werewolves in Norse mythology. In modern Scandinavian also kveldulf evening-wolf, presumably after the name of Kveldulf Bjalfason, use of lycanthropy for supposed shape-shifting is much later, introduced ca. Slavic uses the term vlko-dlak, literally wolf-skin, paralleling the Old Norse ulfhéðinn, however, the word is not attested in the medieval period. The Slavic term was loaned into modern Greek as Vrykolakas, baltic has related terms, Lithuanian vilkolakis and vilkatas, Latvian vilkatis and vilkacis. The name vurdalak for the Slavic vampire is a due to Alexander Pushkin. Tolstoy in his novella The Family of the Vourdalak, Greek λυκάνθρωπος and Germanic werewulf are parallel inasmuch as the concept of a shapeshifter becoming a wolf is expressed by means of a compound wolf-man or man-wolf. Their underlying common origin can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European mythology and this is reflected in Iron Age Europe in the Tierkrieger depictions from the Germanic sphere, among others. The standard comparative overview of this aspect of Indo-European mythology is McCone, such transformations of men into wolves in pagan cult were associated with the devil from the early medieval perspective. In his Man into Wolf, Robert Eisler tried to cast the Indo-European tribal names meaning wolf or wolf-men in terms of the European transition from fruit gathering to predatory hunting, a few references to men changing into wolves are found in Ancient Greek literature and mythology. In the second century BC, the Greek geographer Pausanias related the story of Lycaon, in accounts by the Bibliotheca and Ovid, Lycaon serves human flesh to Zeus, wanting to know if he is really a god. Lycaons transformation, therefore, is punishment for a crime, considered variously as murder, cannibalism, Ovid also relates stories of men who roamed the woods of Arcadia in the form of wolves. In addition to Ovid, other Roman writers also mentioned lycanthropy, virgil wrote of human beings transforming into wolves

23.
Fairy
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A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural. According to Thomas Keightley, the word derives from the Latin fata. Other forms are the Italian fata, and the Provençal fada, in old French romance, fee was a woman skilled in magic, and who knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs. Faierie became fairy, but with that now almost exclusively referring to one of the legendary people. The word fairy was used to represent an illusion, or enchantment, to the word faie was added the suffix -erie, used to express either a place where something is found or a trade or typical activity engaged in. In later usage it applied to any kind of quality or activity associated with a particular type of person. In the sense land where fairies dwell, the distinctive and archaic spellings Faery, the latinate fay is not to be confused with the unrelated fey, meaning fated to die. Various folkloristic traditions refer to them euphemistically, by such as wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair folk. Sometimes the term fairy is used to any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes, at other times. Fairies have their origin in the conflation of Celtic traditions in the Middle French medieval romances. Fairie was in origin used adjectivally, meaning enchanted, but was used as a name for enchanted creatures from as early as the Late Middle English period. In English literature of the Elizabethan era, elves became conflated with the fairies of Romance culture, the Victorian and Edwardian eras saw an increase in interest in fairies. The Celtic Revival viewed them as part of Irelands cultural heritage, carole Silvers and others suggest that the fascination of English antiquarians arose from a reaction to greater industrialization, and loss of folkways. Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers, even with these small fairies, however, their small size may be magically assumed rather than constant. Some fairies though normally quite small were able to dilate their figures to imitate humans, on Orkney they were described as short in stature, dressed in dark grey, and sometimes seen in armour. Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are rare in the folklore, even very small fairies flew with magic. Nowadays, fairies are depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings. In some folklore, fairies have green eyes, some depictions of fairies either have them wearing some sort of footwear and other depictions of fairies are always barefoot

Fairy
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A portrait of a fairy, by Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1869). The title of the painting is Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things - purportedly from a poem by Charles Ede.
Fairy
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1896 illustration of a fairy from Ernest Vincent Wright 's The Wonderful Fairies of the Sun
Fairy
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Classic representation of a small fairy with butterfly wings commonly used in modern times. Luis Ricardo Falero, 1888.
Fairy
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A resin statue of a fairy

24.
Witchcraft
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Witchcraft broadly means the practice of, and belief in, magical skills and abilities that are able to be exercised by individuals and certain social groups. Witchcraft often occupies a religious, divinatory or medicinal role, and is present within societies. The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have existed throughout recorded history and it posits a theosophical conflict between good and evil, where witchcraft was generally evil and often associated with the Devil and Devil worship. Christian views in the day are diverse and cover the gamut of views from intense belief and opposition to non-belief. From the mid-20th century, witchcraft – sometimes called contemporary witchcraft to clearly distinguish it from older beliefs – became the name of a branch of modern paganism and it is most notably practiced in the Wiccan and modern witchcraft traditions, and no longer practices in secrecy. The Western mainstream Christian view is far from the only societal perspective about witchcraft, Beliefs related to witchcraft and magic in these cultures were at times influenced by the prevailing Western concepts. Suspicion of modern medicine due to beliefs about illness being due to witchcraft also continues in countries to this day. HIV/AIDS and Ebola virus disease are two examples of infectious disease epidemics whose medical care and containment has been severely hampered by regional beliefs in witchcraft. Other severe medical conditions whose treatment is hampered in this way include tuberculosis, leprosy, epilepsy, the word witchcraft derives from the Old English wiccecræft, a compound of wicce and cræft. This definition was pioneered in a study of central African magical beliefs by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, European witchcraft is seen by historians and anthropologists as an ideology for explaining misfortune, however, this ideology has manifested in diverse ways, as described below. Some modern commentators believe the malefic nature of witchcraft is a Christian projection, many examples appear in early texts, such as those from ancient Egypt and Babylonia. Malicious magic users can become a cause for disease, sickness in animals, bad luck, sudden death, impotence. Witchcraft of a benign and socially acceptable sort may then be employed to turn the malevolence aside. The folk magic used to identify or protect against malicious magic users is often indistinguishable from that used by the witches themselves, there has also existed in popular belief the concept of white witches and white witchcraft, which is strictly benevolent. Many neopagan witches strongly identify with this concept, and profess ethical codes that prevent them from performing magic on a person without their request. Probably the most obvious characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a spell, spell being the word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these. Strictly speaking, necromancy is the practice of conjuring the spirits of the dead for divination or prophecy – although the term has also applied to raising the dead for other purposes

25.
Maenad
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In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the gods retinue. Their name literally translates as raving ones, often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy through a combination of dancing and intoxication. During these rites, the maenads would dress in fawn skins and carry a thyrsus and they would weave ivy-wreaths around their heads or wear a bull helmet in honor of their god, and often handle or wear snakes. They went into the mountains at night and practiced strange rites, according to Plutarchs Life of Alexander, maenads were called Mimallones and Klodones In Macedon, epithets derived from the feminine art of spinning wool. Nevertheless, these warlike parthenoi from the hills, associated with a Dionysios pseudanor fake male Dionysus, in southern Greece they were described with Bacchae, Bassarides, Thyiades, Potniades and other epithets. The term maenad has come to be associated with a variety of women, supernatural, mythological. In Euripides play The Bacchae, maenads of Thebes murder King Pentheus after he bans the worship of Dionysus, Dionysus, Pentheus cousin, himself lures Pentheus to the woods, where the maenads tear him apart. His corpse is mutilated by his own mother, Agave, who tears off his head, a group of maenads also kill Orpheus. In ceramic art, the frolicking of Maenads and Dionysus is often a theme depicted on kraters, used to mix water and these scenes show the maenads in their frenzy running in the forests, often tearing to pieces any animal they happen to come across. They strike rocks with the thyrsus, and water gushes forth and they lower the thyrsus to the earth, and a spring of wine bubbles up. If they want milk, they scratch up the ground with their fingers, honey trickles down from the thyrsus made of the wood of the ivy, they gird themselves with snakes and give suck to fawns and wolf cubs as if they were infants at the breast. No weapon of iron can wound them, and the snakes harmlessly lick up the sweat from their heated cheeks, fierce bulls fall to the ground, victims to numberless, tearing female hands, and sturdy trees are torn up by the roots with their combined efforts. Having symbolically eaten his body and drunk his blood, the celebrants became possessed by Dionysus, Maenads are found the later references as priestesses of the Dionystic cult. They will give to you both the rites and good practices, and they will establish dance groups of Bacchus in your city. Dionysus came to his birthplace, Thebes, where neither Pentheus, his cousin who was now king, nor Pentheus’ mother Agave, Dionysus punished Agave by driving her insane, and in that condition, she killed her son and tore him to pieces. From Thebes, Dionysus went to Argos where all the women except the daughters of King Proetus joined in his worship, Dionysus punished them by driving them mad, and they killed the infants who were nursing at their breasts. He did the same to the daughters of Minyas, King of Orchomenos in Boetia, according to Opian, Dionysus delighted, as a child, in tearing kids into pieces and bringing them back to life again. He is characterized as the one, and the mad one

26.
Sam Merlotte
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Sam Merlotte is a fictional character from the The Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse Series by author Charlaine Harris. Sam lives in the town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sam has strawberry blond hair with blue eyes and he is both a close friend of and the employer of mind-reading barmaid Sookie Stackhouse. His biological mother was a shifter as well as his brother and he is a true shape-shifter in that he can take the form of any animal, although his preferred shape is that of a collie, he can change into any animal he has seen. On nights when the moon is full, Sam - like all shapeshifters - feels an urge to change. In the eighth book during the were war, instead of turning into a collie as usual, Sam has expressed his interest in Sookie and has kissed her on more than one occasion, but the two have never actually dated. He remains her friend and supporter. He is protective of Sookie and is jealous and concerned when Sookie involves herself first with the vampire Bill Compton and then Bills employer Eric Northman. Under the guise of friendship, he often advises Sookie to get away from the vampires while she still can. Despite this, Sam is dragged into the drama that surrounds Sookie, Sam also engages in a sexual relationship with Maryann, a maenad, whose visit to Sookies hometown causes much chaos. When Sookie unexpectedly discovers that Sam is a shape-shifter, she is hurt that he did not see fit to confide in her because she has always been open with him about her own condition, in the book series, it is revealed that both of Sams parents were shape-shifters. Both Sam and his mother have kept their true nature secret from his stepfather, brother. Because only the first-born of a were couple inherits the ability to change, Sam drifted from town to town before deciding to settle in Bon Temps and buy the bar. Since the Weres and shifters publicly revealed themselves, Sam has mentioned that he is a U. S. Army veteran, Sam has generally avoided long relationships, but has dated other Werewolves and shifters. Although he was attracted to Sookie, he did not reveal it to her until after she began dating Bill Compton. They each tend to be more than a little suspicious of the choices in romantic partners. In the HBO series True Blood, based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries, in the first season, Sam engages in a brief sexual relationship with Tara Thornton. Sam is also revealed, in the season, to have had a sexual encounter with the maenad Maryann while he was still an adolescent

27.
Sam Trammell
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Sam Trammell is an American actor. He is known for his role as Sam Merlotte on the HBO vampire series True Blood, Trammell was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Trammell has worked in theater, Broadway, Off-Broadway, film and he is an accomplished New York stage actor whose credits include a Tony nominated performance in Ah, Wilderness. Trammells big break came when he landed the role of Sam Merlotte on the HBO series True Blood, in 2013, Trammell played Darrell Mackey in the drama film White Rabbit. Trammell played Hazels father, Michael Lancaster, in the 2014 film The Fault in Our Stars, Trammell and actress Missy Yager met in 2003 while performing theater in New York City. The couple had twin boys, called Gus and Winston, on August 9,2011, for his work on HBOs True Blood, Trammell was nominated for, Breakout Performance – Male at the 2009 Scream Awards Best Supporting Actor at the 2010 Scream Awards

28.
Louisiana
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Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States and its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the state in the U. S. with political subdivisions termed parishes. The largest parish by population is East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana is bordered by Arkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east, Texas to the west, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Much of the lands were formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh. These contain a rich southern biota, typical examples include birds such as ibis, there are also many species of tree frogs, and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. In more elevated areas, fire is a process in the landscape. These support a large number of plant species, including many species of orchids. Louisiana has more Native American tribes than any other state, including four that are federally recognized, ten that are state recognized. Before the American purchase of the territory in 1803, the current Louisiana State had been both a French colony and for a period, a Spanish one. In addition, colonists imported numerous African people as slaves in the 18th century, many came from peoples of the same region of West Africa, thus concentrating their culture. Louisiana was named after Louis XIV, King of France from 1643 to 1715, when René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed the territory drained by the Mississippi River for France, he named it La Louisiane. The suffix -ana is a Latin suffix that can refer to information relating to an individual, subject. Thus, roughly, Louis + ana carries the idea of related to Louis, the Gulf of Mexico did not exist 250 million years ago when there was but one supercontinent, Pangea. As Pangea split apart, the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico opened, Louisiana slowly developed, over millions of years, from water into land, and from north to south. The oldest rocks are exposed in the north, in such as the Kisatchie National Forest. The oldest rocks date back to the early Tertiary Era, some 60 million years ago, the history of the formation of these rocks can be found in D. Spearings Roadside Geology of Louisiana. The sediments were carried north to south by the Mississippi River

29.
Tara Thornton
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Tara Mae Thornton is a fictional character in Charlaine Harriss The Southern Vampire Mysteries and their television adaptation, HBOs True Blood. Tara Mae Thornton is a twenty-something Louisiana native and lifelong friend of the main protagonist, compiling a description of her character is a complex task because quite a few facts about her changed when her character was brought from page to screen. The television show also expands Taras family to include the spared Lafayette Reynolds and his mother, Tara has two siblings, a brother and a sister. They both left Bon Temps and Tara behind as soon as they were able, in Living Dead in Dallas, Tara is engaged to Eggs Benedict Talley, but this relationship ends when a secret sex party they attend ends badly. She then opens up a store called Taras Togs. He soon dumps her and gives her to the vampire Mickey who turns out to be a sadist, the situation with Mickey gets so bad, Sookie and the vampire Eric Northman must take steps to rescue her. After owning and operating her own business for a few years, during the events of All Together Dead, she and JB du Rone elope. Tara is currently pregnant with JBs twins and she confides this to Sookie, telling her that she did not plan on having a baby, but felt she should try her best and be the great mother that she herself never had. It is Claude who reveals that Tara is having twins, a boy and she later gives birth to a daughter named Sara Sookie and a son named Robert Thornton with help from Sookie. She and JB go through financial problems after the birth of the twins and JB decides to work as a stripper at Hooligans. After Dead Ever After Tara and JB divorce, Tara became very successful in her business and even opened up a series of clothing stores. In the HBO series True Blood, Tara is portrayed by actress Rutina Wesley, actress Brook Kerr was originally cast in the role, but she was replaced after the pilot episode. In the beginning of the show, Tara lives with her mother Lettie Mae. As a child Tara would run to Sookies house to get away from her mothers beatings and it is because of this and the fact that Taras acceptance of Sookie as a telepath that the two became best friends. Despite enduring years of abuse, neglect, and disappointment from her mother, Tara still cares deeply about Lettie Maes well-being, however, Tara is a very angry, Tara leaves her mothers house and moves into Lafayettes home. The discovery of a web cam in his bathroom results in her moving out. After her mother undergoes an exorcism, Tara briefly moves back in with her, Tara is later bailed out by the mysterious social worker Maryann Forrester and she takes up residence at Maryanns luxurious estate. Tara and Sam Merlotte, who is Taras boss, explore the possibilities of a romantic relationship, before they can give it another try, Tara meets Eggs Benedict Talley, who also lives with Maryann

30.
Rutina Wesley
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Rutina Wesley is an American film, stage, and television actress best known for her roles as Tara Thornton on the HBO series True Blood and Nova Bordelon on the OWN series Queen Sugar. Wesley was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and her father, Ivery Wheeler, is a professional tap dancer, and her mother, Cassandra Wesley, was a showgirl. She attended high school at the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and she studied dance at Simba Studios and the West Las Vegas Arts Center. While at the Las Vegas Academy, Wesley missed several other auditions for college training programs and was accepted by the University of Evansville in Indiana. She was hesitant in joining the university because of a lack of minorities in the state, after earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance in 2001, her grandmother suggested that she do a nursing course, but Wesley insisted on pursuing her education. She joined the Juilliard School in 2001 and graduated in May 2005, at Juilliard, she became close friends with her future co-star Nelsan Ellis. In December 2006, Wesley was featured in David Hares Broadway play The Vertical Hour, in 2007, Wesley also appeared in The Public Theater production of In Darfur by playwright Winter Miller, co-starring Heather Raffo, Aaron Lohr among others. Wesley had a role in 2005 film Hitch, which was edited in the final cut. However, she made her on debut in the lead role in 2007 film How She Move. The character Raya Green, who enters a step dancing competition to secure funds for her education, was inspired by Tony Manero, prior to the shooting of the film, Wesley underwent a five-week dance rehearsal period. Portraying a woman of Jamaican descent, she also took dialect coaching for the role, Wesley auditioned for the role Tara Thornton in the HBO series True Blood in 2007 and secured the part after creator Alan Ball chose her because was the first person who showed vulnerable side. In June 2011, it was reported that Wesley will star in the biopic Left To Tell based on Immaculée Ilibagizas bestselling memoir about the Rwandan Genocide, in January 2015, it was announced that Wesley had been cast in a recurring role on NBCs critically acclaimed drama series Hannibal. She portrayed Reba McClane, a woman who enters into a relationship with Francis Dolarhyde. Wesley has been cast as Liza Warner in the season of Arrow. In 2016, Wesley was cast as character in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, Queen Sugar produced by Ava DuVernay. Wesley divides her time between Los Angeles and Astoria, Queens, in 2005, she married her former Juilliard classmate Jacob Fishel, an actor. Wesley filed for divorce on August 16,2013, citing irreconcilable differences, Rutina Wesley at the Internet Movie Database Rutina Wesley at MSN Movies Rutina Wesley at Rotten Tomatoes

Rutina Wesley
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Wesley in July 2012 at SDCC

31.
Jason Stackhouse
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Jason Stackhouse is a fictional character from The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series by author Charlaine Harris. Introduced in the first novel, Dead Until Dark, Jason is Sookie Stackhouses older brother, Jason is known as a ladies man and is associated sexually with many women in Bon Temps and other neighboring communities. He is selfish and often involves Sookie in his troubles, Sookie says, What they didnt get was that Jasons favorite person in the entire universe was Jason Stackhouse. In the first book, Jason is suspected of killing a series of girls in Bon Temps, videotapes of his sexual encounters with each girl were damning evidence against him. In later books he is implicated in crimes, and despite his innocence these accusations continue to erode his reputation. In Dead to the World, Jason disappears and this occurs shortly after he begins dating Crystal Norris from Hotshot, a community of werepanthers near Bon Temps. Finally, Sookie discovers that he was kidnapped by a jealous rival, Jason is shown to greatly enjoy hunting with the panthers, but they dont fully accept him because he was bitten, not born. In the novels, Crystal gets pregnant with Jasons baby, when she gets pregnant again, Jason happily marries her in a wedding in Hotshot. Sookie claims that Jason loves Crystal, but Crystal isnt sure that she loves Jason, the immature twosome quickly encounter marriage troubles, such as Crystal spending the household money on shopping instead of necessities. When Jason discovers that Crystal is having an affair, he tricks Calvin Norris, after that, Crystal moves back to Hotshot and Jason is shown to be dating other women. Jason has been friends with Hoyt Fortenberry since they were children, since Jason became a werepanther, their relationship has been strained, and it appears to end when Jason marries Crystal. Jason then befriends werepanther Mel Hart, with unfortunate results, Crystal ultimately dies when she is crucified outside of Merlotts, and Jason again becomes a suspect, but eventually his innocence is proven. Like Sookie, Jason has fairy ancestry, other characters assume it is the source of his sexual attractiveness and conquests. In True Blood, an HBO series based on the books, in the series, Jason is introduced as Sookies brother and a well-known ladies man in Bon Temps. Things start turning upside down for him when several women that he has been involved with are murdered, including his loving Grandmother, the first victim is Maudette Pickens, a local married woman who periodically engages Jason in casual sex. It is discovered during one of these encounters, that Maudette had been paid one thousand dollars for a relationship with a vampire. Maudette isnt ashamed of the fact, but Jason is skeptical about it and she also reveals that she videotaped the encounter. With this as a motive, Jason starts to have sex with Maudette with his hands around her neck

32.
Ryan Kwanten
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Ryan Christian Kwanten is an Australian actor. He played Vinnie Patterson from 1997 to 2002 in the Australian soap opera Home, after his stint ended, he joined the American teen drama series Summerland, portraying Jay Robertson. In 2008, he was cast as Jason Stackhouse in True Blood, Kwanten was born in Sydney, the son of Kris, a Lifeline op shop coordinator, and Eddie Kwanten, a worker at NSW Maritime. Kwanten has two brothers, Mitchell, a musician, and Lloyd, a doctor and he attended St Pauls College in Manly and later earned a degree in commerce from the University of Sydney. Kwanten began acting on the television shows A Country Practice, Hey Dad. in 1997, he joined the cast of the Australian soap opera Home and Away, playing lifeguard Vinnie Patterson. He eventually chose to leave the series in 2002, shortly after his character married, Kwanten had previously guested on the serial as Robbie Taylor in 1994. Moving to the United States, Kwanten was cast as Jay Robertson in Summerland and he appeared in the films Flicka, with Maria Bello, Alison Lohman, and Tim McGraw, and Dead Silence, a horror film in which he played the leading role. In 2009, he starred in the film Dont Fade Away with Mischa Barton, in 2010, Kwanten role the voice of Kludd in the animated-epic film Legend of the Guardians, The Owls of GaHoole. Kwanten played the role of Jason Stackhouse in the HBO series True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels and he stars in the psychological thriller Red Hill, which was directed by Patrick Hughes. Kwanten earned one of the roles in the Joe Lynch comedy-horror film Knights of Badassdom along with Steve Zahn, Summer Glau. In October 2010, it was announced that Kwanten will play Charles Manson in an upcoming, yet-to-be-titled biopic, in 2012, he appeared in MysteryGuitarMans video Dual Action. In 2013, Kwanten played Marvel character Eddie Brock/Venom in the short film Truth in Journalism and portrayed Conall in the adventure film Northmen. In 2015 Kwanten voiced the role of Blinky Bill, a Koala in Blinky Bill the Movie based on the childrens book by Dorothy Wall. Ryan Kwanten at the Internet Movie Database From vampires to superheroes, Ryan Kwanten talks Griff the Invisible

33.
Eric Northman
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Eric Northman is a fictional character in The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a series of thirteen books written by New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris. He is a vampire, slightly over one years old. Since the book series is told from the first person perspective of Sookie Stackhouse, hBOs television series True Blood is based on this book series and the character of Eric Northman is portrayed somewhat differently. A list of True Blood characters has a description of Erics character from the TV show. In the early books, little was revealed about his past, in the ninth book, Dead and Gone Eric revealed details about his human life as a Viking. He was deemed a man at the age of twelve, at sixteen he married Aude, his brothers widow. The couple had six children, but only three were living at the time of his turning, two boys and a girl, Aude and their sixth child died of a fever shortly after the birth when Eric was in his early twenties. It is revealed in the series that the vampire king of Mississippi murdered his entire family before stealing his fathers Viking crown. In the books, he was ambushed one night by a Roman vampire named Appius Livius Ocella, in the television series, he was made a vampire by Godric. In the television show, it is shown that Eric was a Viking prince. The name Eric or Erik comes from Old Norse and means One ruler or eternal ruler, the name Norseman was the name given to people who could speak the Old Norse Language, especially in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The name Norseman means man from the north, hence Erics last name being Northman, in the first novel, Dead Until Dark, Sookie Stackhouse thinks Eric Northman is a hunk. Sookie describes him as “handsome, in fact, radiant, blond and blue-eyed, tall and he was wearing boots, jeans, and a vest. Kind of like the guys on the cover of romance books. ”When Sookie sees him naked for the first time in Dead to the World, she thinks, “if there were an international competition, Eric would win. By the end of the first season, and a bit into the second. Eric is always shown in blue jeans with a black singlet. When his hair is cut shorter, he parts it and combs it diagonally backwards and his personality in the series is mostly the same, Eric Northman is ruthless and does not care much for human life. His relationship with his progeny, Pam, is where you see the side of him come through

34.
Nelsan Ellis
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Nelsan Ellis is an American film and television actor and playwright. Ellis was born in Harvey, Illinois, near Chicago, when Ellis and his siblings were younger, their mother, a single parent after her divorce from her childrens father, broke down over the death of her brother. Ellis and his siblings became wards of the state as a result and they were then raised in Bessemer, Alabama, by their grandmother. In Alabama, Ellis attended Jess Lanier High School for a year and he moved back to Illinois at age 15, where he lived with his maternal aunt, and in 1997 he graduated from Thornridge High School in Dolton, Illinois. He joined the United States Marines at the age of 17, following this, Ellis attended Illinois State University, where he was a National Champion in Duo Interpretation, among other successes, at the National Forensic Association national tournament. And was accepted for enrollment at the Juilliard Schools Drama Division when he was 21 where he befriended True Blood-colleague Rutina Wesley, Ellis earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Juilliard in 2004. In 2007, Ellis was cast as Lafayette Reynolds in the pilot for True Blood, as a short order cook at Merlottes, a dealer, a member of Jason Stackhouses road crew. The pilot was shot in the summer of 2007 and was officially ordered to series in August. Production on the series later that fall. In casting, Alan Ball had concerns that the characters sexuality would be a dominating trait, nelsan Ellis says that it took him a few episodes to find the character. Ellis says that he based many of Lafayettes mannerisms on his mother and his sister, I have more makeup on than any of the females in the cast. Once they get me with the fake eyelashes and the eye makeup, I listen to some Rihanna, the series premiered on September 7,2008 and concluded on August 24,2014, comprising seven seasons and 80 episodes. In 2008, Ellis received a Satellite Award from the International Press Academy for best supporting actor in a series for his role as Lafayette Reynolds. In 2009, he was nominated for a Scream Award for Best Supporting Actor for True Blood, in 2012, Ellis was cast as Martin Luther King, Jr. in a supporting performance in Lee Daniels The Butler. The Butler received mostly positive reviews critics, with a 71% rating on the film critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. On October 21,2013, Ellis joined the cast of Get on Up and he portrayed Bobby Byrd, Browns long-time friend. Get on Up was met with reviews from critics. The film currently has a rating of 80% on the aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 150 reviews

Nelsan Ellis
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Ellis in June 2009

35.
Short order cook
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A cook is a person who prepares food for consumption. A cook is sometimes referred to as a chef, although in the professional kitchen, the terms are not interchangeable. The term cook within a restaurant kitchen usually refers to a person with little to no influence on a menu and little to no command over others within the kitchen. These are usually all members of a restaurant kitchen that are underneath the sous chef in the brigade de cuisine. Other establishments may have a relatively constant menu, often only having people that can prepare food quickly and consistently, the kitchens in these particular restaurants would thus be entirely run by cooks intimately acquainted with the menu. This example would not include the short order cook, however, since they are capable, when used as a residential staff, the word cook may refer to the head of the kitchen in a great house or to a cook-housekeeper, responsible for cleaning as well. Professional cooks were used in Sardinia during the Nuragic Age, as proved by the sculptures of the Bronze Age. The first Olympic champion listed in the records was a cook, Coroebus of Elis, who won the sprint race in 776 BC. Lawrence of Rome, traditionally a patron saint of cooks and roasters, is reported to have said as he was being burned at the stake in the third century, if you want me well done, its time to turn me over. Chef Chief cook Cook Domestic worker Cooking List of cooking techniques Personal chef

Short order cook
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Two restaurant chefs
Short order cook
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A group of professional and aspiring cooks in a hotel kitchen (1990)
Short order cook
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A cook at work (15th- or 16th-century German illustration)

36.
Medium (spirituality)
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Mediumship is the practice of certain people —known as mediums— to purportedly mediate communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings. There are different types of mediumship including spirit channeling, and ouija, humans have been fascinated with contacting the dead since the beginning of human existence. Cave paintings by indigenous Australians date back 28,000 years, some depicting skulls, bones, spirits, Other cave paintings in Indonesia date back a further 10,000 years. Mediumship gained popularity during the century, when ouija boards were used by the upper classes as a source of entertainment. Investigations during this period revealed widespread fraud—with some practitioners employing techniques used by stage magicians—and the practice began to lose credibility, fraud is still rife in the medium/psychic industry, with cases of deception and trickery being discovered to this day. Scientific researchers have attempted to ascertain the validity of claims of mediumship, an experiment undertaken by the British Psychological Society led to the conclusion that the test subjects demonstrated no mediumistic ability. Other forms involve materializations of the spirit or the presence of a voice, the practice is associated with several religious-belief systems such as Vodun, Spiritualism, Spiritism, Candomblé, Voodoo, Umbanda and some New Age groups. In Spiritism and Spiritualism the medium has the role of an intermediary between the world of the living and the world of spirit. Mediums claim that they can listen to and relay messages from spirits, or that they can allow a spirit to control their body and speak through it directly or by using automatic writing or drawing. Spiritualists classify types of mediumship into two categories, mental and physical, Mental mediums allegedly tune in to the spirit world by listening, sensing. During seances, mediums are said to go into trances, varying from light to deep, attempts to communicate with the dead and other living human beings, aka spirits, have been documented back to early human history. Mediumship became quite popular in the 19th-century United States and the United Kingdom after the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement, Modern Spiritualism is said to date from practices and lectures of the Fox sisters in New York State in 1848. The trance mediums Paschal Beverly Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the subject in the mid-19th century, allan Kardec coined the term Spiritism around 1860. Kardec claimed that conversations with spirits by selected mediums were the basis of his The Spirits Book and later, his five-book collection, some scientists of the period who investigated spiritualism also became converts. They included chemist Robert Hare, physicist William Crookes and evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, nobel laureate Pierre Curie took a very serious scientific interest in the work of medium Eusapia Palladino. Other prominent adherents included journalist and pacifist William T, Stead and physician and author Arthur Conan Doyle. After the exposure of the fraudulent use of magic tricks by physical mediums such as the Davenport Brothers. However, the religion and its beliefs continue in spite of this, with physical mediumship and seances falling out of practice, Spiritualism continues to be practiced, primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom

Medium (spirituality)
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Séance conducted by John Beattie, Bristol, England, 1872
Medium (spirituality)
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Colin Evans who claimed spirits lifted him into the air was exposed as a fraud.
Medium (spirituality)
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A photograph of the medium Linda Gazzera with a doll as fake ectoplasm.
Medium (spirituality)
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Helen Duncan in a séance with dolls.

37.
Six Feet Under (TV series)
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Six Feet Under is an American drama television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It premiered on the cable network HBO in the United States on June 3,2001 and ended on August 21,2005. The show depicts members of the Fisher family, who run a home in Los Angeles. The series traces these characters lives over the course of five years, the ensemble drama stars Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Freddy Rodriguez, Mathew St. Patrick, the series was produced by Actual Size Films and The Greenblatt/Janollari Studio, and was shot on location in Los Angeles and in Hollywood studios. Six Feet Under received widespread acclaim, particularly for its writing and acting. Regarded by many as one of the greatest TV dramas of all time, it has since included on TIME magazines All-TIME100 TV Shows. It has also described as having one of the finest series finales in the history of television. It won numerous awards, including nine Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Peabody Award. The show stars Peter Krause as Nathaniel Samuel Nate Fisher, Jr. whose funeral director father dies and bequeaths to him and his brother, David, the Fisher clan also includes widow, Ruth, and daughter, Claire. Other regulars include mortician and family friend, Federico Diaz, Nates on-again/off-again girlfriend, Brenda Chenowith, on one level, the show is a conventional family drama, dealing with such issues as interpersonal relationships, infidelity, and religion. At the same time, the show is distinguished by its focus on the topic of death. The show also utilises dark humor and surrealism running throughout, sometimes, the characters converse with other, recurring deceased characters, most notably Nathaniel Fisher, Sr. The shows creator, Alan Ball, avers that this represents the characters internal dialogues expressed in the form of external conversations. Although overall plots and characters were created by Alan Ball, there are conflicting reports on how the series was conceived, in one instance, Ball stated that he came up with the premise of the show after the deaths of his sister and father. However, in an interview, he intimates that HBO entertainment president Carolyn Strauss proposed the idea to him. Ball stated in an interview, The show focuses on human mortality, the nature of life and death feeding off of each other. Throughout its five-season, 63-episode run, major characters experience crises which are in relation to their environment

Six Feet Under (TV series)
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Six Feet Under
Six Feet Under (TV series)
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The main characters of Six Feet Under in the first season. From left to right: Federico; Keith; David; Claire; Ruth; Nate; Nathaniel, Sr; and Brenda.

38.
Dead Until Dark
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Dead Until Dark, published in 2001, is the first novel in Charlaine Harris series The Southern Vampire Mysteries. It is set at approximately the time as the books publication. However, in the world of the novel, vampires are a reality and this Great Revelation was an internationally televised event in which vampires expressed the desire for peaceful coexistence with humans. Sookie is 25 years old and works as a barmaid at Merlottes and she lives in Bon Temps with her grandmother, Adele. She also has a brother, Jason, but he lives on his own. Her parents died in a flood when she was young. Since her childhood, Sookie has been capable of reading peoples minds, because of her disability, she cant help knowing what other people are thinking all the time, unless she concentrates and puts up her guard. Thats why she never wanted to go to college, because she wouldnt have been able to study, furthermore, she never had a boyfriend or sexual relationships because she couldnt feel comfortable if her partner thought something bad about her. Early in the book, Sookie meets a vampire, a Civil War veteran named Bill Compton, after first meeting Bill, Sookie saves him from the Rattrays, a couple of drainers. Then, Sookie realizes she cannot read the minds of vampires, Bill returns the favor several days later when the Rattrays attack Sookie, in revenge. Sookie ends up wounded, but Bill gives her his blood. In the following days, Sookie tells her Gran about Bill and she asks Sookie to invite Bill to the club of Descendants of the Glorious Dead, which Adele often attends, so that Bill can talk about the Civil War from a real point of view. Bill is then invited to Grans house and, after meeting her, he, during the walk, Bill tells Sookie about being a vampire, and Sookie tells him about being a telepath. Also, Sookie learns she cant be glamered by a vampire, when Bills takes her home, they share their first kiss. Sookie starts to feel something for Bill, so she drops by his house on the pretense of hiring a plumber for Bill, but he is with another three vampires, wilder and crueler, and a couple of humans. Vampires Malcolm, Diane, and Liam aim to feed on Sookie, then, Sookie discovers one of the humans is allowing the vampires to feed on him because he has a virus that debilitates them. She tells them, and the leaves with the fang-bangers. She takes time apart from Bill, the next day, Sam, Sookies boss, asks her to drop by Dawns house, another barmaid of Merlottes, because Dawn hadnt show up in a few days

Dead Until Dark
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Cover of Dead Until Dark

39.
2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike
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The WGAE and WGAW labor unions represent film, television, and radio writers working in the United States. All 12,000 screenwriters and TV writers in the guild were part of the strike started on November 5,2007. The strike sought increased funding for the writers in comparison to the profits of the larger studios and it was targeted at the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, a trade organization representing the interests of 397 American film and television producers. Negotiators for the writers reached a tentative agreement on February 8,2008. Striking writers voted on February 12,2008 on whether to lift the restraining order, on February 26, the WGA announced that the contract had been ratified with a 93. 6% approval among WGA members. The Writers Guild later requested a court order seeking that the agreement be honored and implemented, the guilds were on strike for 14 weeks and 2 days. According to a National Public Radio report filed on February 12,2008, a report from the UCLA Anderson School of Management put the loss at $380 million, while economist Jack Kyser put the loss at $2.1 billion. Every three years, the Writers Guild negotiates a new contract with the AMPTP by which its members are employed. This contract is called the Minimum Basic Agreement, in 1985 the Writers Guild went on strike over the home video market, which was then small and primarily consisted of distribution via video tape. At that time, the entertainment companies argued home video was an unproven market, as manufacturing costs for video tapes dropped dramatically and the home video market exploded, writers came to feel they had been shortchanged by this deal. DVDs debuted in 1996 and rapidly replaced the more-expensive VHS format, the previous VHS residual formula continued to apply to DVDs. Prior to the strike, the video market had become the major source of revenue for the movie studios. In April 2004, the New York Times reported the companies made $4.8 billion in home video sales versus $1.78 billion at the box office between January and March. WGA members argued that a writers residuals are a part of a writers income that is typically relied upon during periods of unemployment common in the writing industry. The WGA requested a doubling of the rate for DVD sales. The AMPTP maintained that studios DVD income was necessary to offset rising production and they further insisted that the current DVD formula be applied to residuals in other digital media—an area which was also contested by the Writers Guild. However, after the strike began, WGAW President Patric M, There was no change to the calculation of DVD residuals. Prior to the strike, the WGA had no arrangement with the companies regarding the use of content online, in electronic sell-through, the consumer purchases a copy of the program and downloads it to a local storage device for subsequent viewing at their convenience

40.
Deep South
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The Deep South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. Historically, it is differentiated from the Upper South as being the states most dependent on plantation-type agriculture, the Deep South was also commonly referred to as the Lower South or the Cotton States, for their production of cotton as the primary commodity crop. Today, the Deep South is usually delineated as being those states, the seven states that seceded from the United States before the firing on Fort Sumter and the start of the American Civil War, and were the first to form the Confederate States of America. Ultimately the Confederacy included eleven states, in order of secession they are, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The first six states to secede were those that held the largest number of slaves, a large part of the original Cotton Belt. Some of this is coterminous with the Black Belt, originally referring to areas of Alabama and Mississippi with fertile soil. The term came to be used for much of the Cotton Belt, though often used in history books to refer to the seven states that originally formed the Confederacy, the term Deep South did not come into general usage until long after the Civil War ended. Up until that time, Lower South was the designation for those states. This was the part of the South many considered the most Southern, later, the general definition expanded to include all of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and often taking in bordering areas of East Texas and North Florida. Houston is the largest city of the Deep South region and they sometimes served as overseers on plantations. Georgia -1,132,184 out of 3,009,484 people identified as English, making them 37. 62% of the states total. Mississippi -496,481 people out of 1,551,364 people identified as English, making them 32. 00% of the total, the largest national group by a wide margin. Florida -1,132,033 people out of 5,159,967 identified English as their only ancestry group, making them 21. 94% of the total. Louisiana -440,558 people out of 2,319,259 people identified only as English, making them 19. 00% of the total people and the second-largest ancestry group in the state at the time. Those who wrote only French were 480,711 people out of 2,319,259 people, or 20. 73% of the total state population. Texas -1,639,322 people identified as English only out of a total of 7,859,393 people, making them 20. 86% of the people in the state. These figures to do not take into account people who identified as English, when the two were added together, people who self identified as being of English with other ancestry, made up an even larger portion of southerners. South Carolina was settled earlier than those states commonly classified as the Deep South, the map to the right was prepared by the Census Bureau from the 2000 census, it shows the predominant ancestry in each county as self-identified by residents themselves

41.
Jennifer Herrema
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Jennifer Herrema is an American rock music singer, songwriter, record producer, artist, and model best known for her work as one half of the rock band Royal Trux. Herrema started the Royal Trux band at the age of 16 with partner Neil Hagerty and she has also written lyrics for a song on Rachel Masons album The Ambassadors. She was the heroin chic poster girl as interpreted by photographer Steven Meisel for Calvin Klein print ads. She has also appeared in ad campaigns for Hysteric Glamour, H & M, Herrema and former partner Hagerty were instrumental in starting the independent record labels Drag City and Domino Records. Presently Jennifer Herrema heads a band called RTX which includes Nadav Eisenman, Kurt Midness, Brian Mckinley, the Avalanches revealed that they were working on a song with Herrema called The Stepkids. Herrema has explained the reason for the breakup of the band and cancelling the Pound For Pound tour as such, e went out on tour for that, made it to Pittsburgh and. Two days before we left I was told my dad was gonna die, then when we got to Pittsburgh I checked myself into the hospital in this ruse to get painkillers. That was the end of that, I was in full getting fucked up mode again, Neil and I talked about it and I said, I cant do this. It was like an out of body experience, I was drinking and it wasnt like having a party, I was just so sad. We made the record and I had been talking to him about taking time off. I think I just basically threw the table upside down and crashed the whole thing, herremas new band RTX had a fourth album ready for release in late 2010. He new album is in a pattern for a few months. Its done, but I have to finalize mixes and a few overdubs. It was supposed to come out this fall but Ive decided to do it in the spring, Ive been really busy and wanted a break. I think were gonna call it Rad Times Four, the band eventually changed its name to Black Bananas and released Rad Times Express IV on January 31,2012. They released their first EP, Electric Brick Wall, under the new name in June 2014, transmaniacon Western Exterminator JJ Got Live RATX Rad Times Express IV

Jennifer Herrema
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Jennifer Herrema

42.
Royal Trux
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Royal Trux is an American alternative rock band active from 1987 to 2001. It was founded by Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema, while still a teenager, Hagerty joined Washington DC garage punk band Pussy Galore, led by Jon Spencer, and subsequently relocated to New York. During his time in Pussy Galore, Hagerty convinced his bandmates to release a remake of the entire Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street. Hagerty and Herrema released their first album, Royal Trux, in 1988, then, after moving to San Francisco, Royal Trux released the experimental double-album Twin Infinitives. In fanzine interviews, the band was open about their heroin use, after Twin Infinitives, Royal Trux released an untitled album. Forgoing the experimentalism of Twin Infinitives, the band opted for a more lo-fi approach. The arguably atypical lyricism and sonic atonality of their first two albums was largely abandoned in favor of a stripped, direct sound. Following the release of their album, Hagerty and Herrema hired a guitarist and drummer in order to complete their fourth full-length, Cats. The songwriting remained highly experimental, but was more melodic, which was revealed on tracks such as The Flag, The Spectre, around this time, the band signed with Matador and a Royal Trux record was assigned a catalog number for an album which never appeared. Allegedly, the band was dropped from Matador after spending their whole advance on drugs, the label viewed it as a way to gain credibility with other, more promising indie bands that they hoped to attract. Some of the money went into buying a house in Virginia and converting it to a studio, according to interviews, the band also kicked their drug habit at this time. The band added a considerably heavier rhythm section with Dan Brown on bass guitar, Pyle left after a brief period and was replaced by Ken Nasta, a prominent Jacksonville drummer, formerly with Mike Angelo & the Idols and many others. They also added a percussionist named Rob Armstrong for a short period, in 1995, they released Thank You, recorded almost completely live in the studio with producer David Briggs. While the band received mainstream exposure during their time on Virgin, Virgin was reportedly unhappy with Sweet Sixteen. The band was unwilling to record a record for the label. Royal Trux returned to their old label Drag City, on Drag City, the band released Accelerator, based on the rejected recordings that would have comprised their third album for Virgin. They followed this album with Veterans of Disorder in 1999, Royal Trux also released the triple-LP Singles, Live, Unreleased, as well as a pair of EPs and substantial video and webwork. Hagerty and Herrema were often credited as Adam and Eve for their production work and they separated as a couple and dissolved the band following the release of Pound for Pound

Royal Trux
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Royal Trux, 1999

43.
Baptism
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Baptism is a Christian sacrament of admission and adoption, almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally. The canonical Gospels report that Jesus was baptized—a historical event to which a degree of certainty can be assigned. Baptism has been called a sacrament and an ordinance of Jesus Christ. In some denominations, baptism is also called christening, but for others the word christening is reserved for the baptism of infants, Baptism has also given its name to the Baptist churches and denominations. The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the candidate to be immersed, in v.16, Matthew will speak of Jesus coming up out of the water. The traditional depiction in Christian art of John the Baptist pouring water over Jesus head may therefore be based on later Christian practice, other common forms of baptism now in use include pouring water three times on the forehead, a method called affusion. Martyrdom was identified early in Church history as baptism by blood, later, the Catholic Church identified a baptism of desire, by which those preparing for baptism who die before actually receiving the sacrament are considered saved. Today, some Christians, particularly Christian Scientists, Quakers, The Salvation Army, and Unitarians, do not see baptism as necessary, among those that do, differences can be found in the manner and mode of baptizing and in the understanding of the significance of the rite. Most Christians baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, much more than half of all Christians baptize infants, many others hold that only believers baptism is true baptism. Some insist on submersion or at least partial immersion of the person who is baptized, others consider that any form of washing by water, as long as the water flows on the head, is sufficient. The term baptism has also used to refer to any ceremony, trial, or experience by which a person is initiated, purified. The Greek verb baptō, dip, from which the verb baptizo is derived, is in turn hypothetically traced to a reconstructed Indo-European root *gʷabh-, the Greek words are used in a great variety of meanings. John the Baptist, who is considered a forerunner to Christianity, the apostle Paul distinguished between the baptism of John, and baptism in the name of Jesus, and it is questionable whether Christian baptism was in some way linked with that of John. Christians consider Jesus to have instituted the sacrament of baptism, though whether Jesus intended to institute a continuing, the earliest Christian baptisms were probably normally by immersion, complete or partial. Though other modes may have also been used, at the hour in which the cock crows, they shall first pray over the water. When they come to the water, the water shall be pure and flowing, that is, then they shall take off all their clothes. The children shall be baptized first, all of the children who can answer for themselves, let them answer. If there are any children who cannot answer for themselves, let their parents answer for them, after this, the men will be baptized

Baptism
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Masaccio (1425–1426), Baptism of the Neophytes (it), Brancacci Chapel, Florence. This painting depicts baptism by affusion, which continues in the East except for infants, but in the West it had dropped almost completely out of use by the 15th century. The artist may have chosen an archaic form for this depiction of baptism by St. Peter.
Baptism
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Catacombs of San Callisto: baptism in a 3rd-century painting
Baptism
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Christening photograph in Orthodox Church. The moment of Catechism.

44.
Venus fly-trap
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The Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping structure formed by the portion of each of the plants leaves. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, Dionaea is a monotypic genus closely related to the waterwheel plant and sundews, all of which belong to the family Droseraceae. The Venus flytrap is a plant whose structure can be described as a rosette of four to seven leaves. Each stem reaches a size of about three to ten centimeters, depending on the time of year, longer leaves with robust traps are usually formed after flowering. Flytraps that have more than seven leaves are formed by rosettes that have divided beneath the ground. The leaf blade is divided into two regions, a flat, heart-shaped photosynthesis-capable petiole, and a pair of terminal lobes hinged at the midrib, the upper surface of these lobes contains red anthocyanin pigments and its edges secrete mucilage. The lobes exhibit rapid plant movements, snapping shut when stimulated by prey, the trapping mechanism is tripped when prey contacts one of the three hair-like trichomes that are found on the upper surface of each of the lobes. The edges of the lobes are fringed by stiff hair-like protrusions or cilia and these protrusions, and the trigger hairs are likely homologous with the tentacles found in this plant’s close relatives, the sundews. Scientists have concluded that the snap trap evolved from a trap similar to that of Drosera. The holes in the meshwork allow small prey to escape, presumably because the benefit that would be obtained from them would be less than the cost of digesting them, if the prey is too small and escapes, the trap will usually reopen within 12 hours. If the prey moves around in the trap, it tightens, speed of closing can vary depending on the amount of humidity, light, size of prey, and general growing conditions. The speed with which traps close can be used as an indicator of a general health. Venus flytraps are not as humidity-dependent as are some other plants, such as Nepenthes, Cephalotus, most Heliamphora. The Venus flytrap exhibits variations in shape and length and whether the leaf lies flat on the ground or extends up at an angle of about 40–60 degrees. Except for filiformis, all of these can be stages in leaf production of any plant depending on season, length of photoperiod, the plants common name refers to Venus, the Roman goddess of love. The genus name, Dionaea, refers to the Greek goddess Aphrodite, while the species name, historically, the plant was also known by the slang term tipitiwitchet or tippity twitchet, possibly an oblique reference to the plants resemblance to human female genitalia. Most carnivorous plants selectively feed on specific prey and this selection is due to the available prey and the type of trap used by the organism

45.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage

46.
Seattle
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Seattle is a seaport city on the west coast of the United States and the seat of King County, Washington. With an estimated 684,451 residents as of 2015, Seattle is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. In July 2013, it was the major city in the United States. The city is situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, about 100 miles south of the Canada–United States border, a major gateway for trade with Asia, Seattle is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling as of 2015. The Seattle area was inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers. Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived from Illinois via Portland, the settlement was moved to the eastern shore of Elliott Bay and named Seattle in 1852, after Chief Siahl of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. Logging was Seattles first major industry, but by the late-19th century, growth after World War II was partially due to the local Boeing company, which established Seattle as a center for aircraft manufacturing. The Seattle area developed as a technology center beginning in the 1980s, in 1994, Internet retailer Amazon was founded in Seattle. The stream of new software, biotechnology, and Internet companies led to an economic revival, Seattle has a noteworthy musical history. From 1918 to 1951, nearly two dozen jazz nightclubs existed along Jackson Street, from the current Chinatown/International District, to the Central District, the jazz scene developed the early careers of Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Ernestine Anderson, and others. Seattle is also the birthplace of rock musician Jimi Hendrix and the alternative rock subgenre grunge, archaeological excavations suggest that Native Americans have inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years. By the time the first European settlers arrived, the people occupied at least seventeen villages in the areas around Elliott Bay, the first European to visit the Seattle area was George Vancouver, in May 1792 during his 1791–95 expedition to chart the Pacific Northwest. In 1851, a party led by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of the Duwamish River. Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party on the way to their claim passed three scouts of the Denny Party, members of the Denny Party claimed land on Alki Point on September 28,1851. The rest of the Denny Party set sail from Portland, Oregon, after a difficult winter, most of the Denny Party relocated across Elliott Bay and claimed land a second time at the site of present-day Pioneer Square, naming this new settlement Duwamps. For the next few years, New York Alki and Duwamps competed for dominance, david Swinson Doc Maynard, one of the founders of Duwamps, was the primary advocate to name the settlement after Chief Sealth of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. The name Seattle appears on official Washington Territory papers dated May 23,1853, in 1855, nominal land settlements were established. On January 14,1865, the Legislature of Territorial Washington incorporated the Town of Seattle with a board of managing the city

Seattle
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Downtown Seattle from Queen Anne Hill
Seattle
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Seal
Seattle
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The Battle of Seattle (1856)
Seattle
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Seattle's first streetcar, at the corner of Occidental and Yesler, 1884. All of the buildings visible in this picture were destroyed by fire five years later.

47.
Instant film
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Instant film is a type of photographic film introduced by Polaroid to be used in an instant camera. The film contains the chemicals needed for developing and fixing the photograph, in earlier Polaroid instant cameras the film is pulled through rollers which breaks open a pod containing a reagent that is spread between the exposed negative and receiving positive sheet. This film sandwich develops for some time after which the sheet is peeled away from the negative to reveal the developed photo. In 1972, Polaroid introduced integral film, which incorporated timing and receiving layers to automatically develop and fix the photo without any intervention from the photographer. Instant film is available in sizes from 24 mm ×36 mm up to 50.8 cm ×61 cm size, with the most popular film sizes for consumer snapshots being approximately 83 mm ×108 mm. Early instant film was distributed on rolls, but later and current films are supplied in packs of 8 or 10 sheets, and single sheet films for use in large format cameras with a compatible back. Though the quality of integral instant film is not as good as conventional film, peel apart black and white film, Instant film was used where it was undesirable to have to wait for a roll of conventional film to be finished and processed, e. g. Some photographers use instant film for test shots, to see how a subject or setup looks before using conventional film for the final exposure. Instant film is notable for having had a range of film speeds available than other negative films of the same era. Current instant film formats typically have an ISO between 100 and 1000, two companies manufacture instant film, Fujifilm and The Impossible Project for older Polaroid cameras. Instant positive film uses diffusion transfer to move the dyes from the negative to the positive via a reagent, the process varies according to the film type. The first instant films produced sepia tone photos, the negative develops quickly, after which some of the unexposed silver halide grains are solubilized by the reagent and transferred by diffusion from the negative to the positive. After a minute, depending on type and ambient temperature. True black and white films were released in 1950 after problems with chemistry stabilization were overcome, color film is much more complex due to multiple layers of emulsion and dye. The negative consists of three emulsion layers sensitive to the colors each with a layer of developing dye beneath it of the complementary color. Once light exposed the negative, the reagent is spread between the negative and positive and the dye layer migrates to the positive surface where it forms the photo. Emulsion layers exposed to their respective color block the complementary dye below it, reproducing the original color. For example, a photo of a blue sky would expose the emulsion, blocking all the yellow dye beneath it and allowing the magenta

Instant film
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2 photographs recorded on instant films.
Instant film
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Different stages of instant film.
Instant film
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A sample shot of Polaroid Type 600, ISO 640, color film
Instant film
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Type 667

48.
Emulsion
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An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible. Emulsions are part of a general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Although the terms colloid and emulsion are sometimes used interchangeably, emulsion should be used when both phases, dispersed and continuous, are liquids, in an emulsion, one liquid is dispersed in the other. Examples of emulsions include vinaigrettes, homogenized milk, mayonnaise, the word emulsion comes from the Latin word for to milk, as milk is an emulsion of fat and water, along with other components. Two liquids can form different types of emulsions, as an example, oil and water can form, first, an oil-in-water emulsion, wherein the oil is the dispersed phase, and water is the dispersion medium. Second, they can form an emulsion, wherein water is the dispersed phase. Multiple emulsions are also possible, including a water-in-oil-in-water emulsion and an oil-in-water-in-oil emulsion, emulsions, being liquids, do not exhibit a static internal structure. The droplets dispersed in the matrix are usually assumed to be statistically distributed. The term emulsion is used to refer to the photo-sensitive side of photographic film. Such a photographic emulsion consist of silver halide colloidal particles dispersed in a gelatin matrix, nuclear emulsions are similar to photographic emulsions, except that they are used in particle physics to detect high-energy elementary particles. Emulsions contain both a dispersed and a phase, with the boundary between the phases called the interface. Emulsions tend to have an appearance because the many phase interfaces scatter light as it passes through the emulsion. Emulsions appear white when all light is scattered equally, if the emulsion is dilute enough, higher-frequency and low-wavelength light will be scattered more, and the emulsion will appear bluer – this is called the Tyndall effect. If the emulsion is concentrated enough, the color will be distorted toward comparatively longer wavelengths and this phenomenon is easily observable when comparing skimmed milk, which contains little fat, to cream, which contains a much higher concentration of milk fat. One example would be a mixture of water and oil, two special classes of emulsions – microemulsions and nanoemulsions, with droplet sizes below 100 nm – appear translucent. This property is due to the fact that lightwaves are scattered by the only if their sizes exceed about one-quarter of the wavelength of the incident light. Due to their similarity in appearance, translucent nanoemulsions and microemulsions are frequently confused, the required surfactant concentration in a microemulsion is, however, several times higher than that in a translucent nanoemulsion, and significantly exceeds the concentration of the dispersed phase. Because of many undesirable side-effects caused by surfactants, their presence is disadvantageous or prohibitive in many applications, in addition, the stability of a microemulsion is often easily compromised by dilution, by heating, or by changing pH levels

Emulsion
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A. Two immiscible liquids, not yet emulsified B. An emulsion of Phase II dispersed in Phase I C. The unstable emulsion progressively separates D. The surfactant (outline around particles) positions itself on the interfaces between Phase II and Phase I, stabilizing the emulsion

49.
TV Guide
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In 1948, he printed New York City area listings magazine The TeleVision Guide. Silent film star Gloria Swanson, who then starred of the variety series The Gloria Swanson Hour. Wagner later began publishing regional editions of The TeleVision Guide for New England, five years later, he sold the editions to Walter Annenberg, who folded it into his publishing and broadcasting company Triangle Publications, but remained as a consultant for the magazine until 1963. The national TV Guides first issue was released on April 3,1953. The inaugural cover featured a photograph of Lucille Balls newborn son Desi Arnaz, Jr. with a photo of Ball placed in the top corner under the issues headline. The magazine was published in digest size, which remained its printed format for 52 years. The launch as a magazine with local listings in April 1953 became an almost instant success, with TV Guide becoming the most read. The initial cost of issue was 15¢ per copy. In addition to subscriptions, TV Guide was sold at the counters of grocery stores nationwide. Until the 1980s, the pieces included in each issue were promoted in a television commercial. Over the decades, the shape of the TV Guide logo has changed to reflect the modernization of the television screen, at first, the logo had various colored backgrounds until the familiar red background became the standard in the 1960s with occasional changes used for special editions. The magazine was first based in an office in downtown Philadelphia, before moving to more spacious national headquarters in Radnor. The color section was sent to regional printers to be wrapped around the local listing sections. It was under Triangles ownership of WFIL-TV that Dick Clark and American Bandstand came to popularity, most listing entries in the log included program genres after the programs title, while its running time was listed in the synopses. Originally, the majority of programs listed in the log each issue featured brief synopses, except for local and national newscasts, in addition, black-and-white ads for programs scheduled to air on broadcast stations – and later, cable channels – during prime time were included within the listings. A regular feature of the section was Close-Up, which provided expanded reviews of select programs airing each day. The advent of television would become hard on TV Guide. Channels that were listed also differed, depending on the edition, as the years went on, more cable channels were added into the listings of each edition